Effect of tariffs on small businesses

Newsweek -   Published on Wednesday morning, the report, The State of Small Business Marketing, showed a growing gap between the effort small businesses are putting into marketing and their confidence that those efforts are driving meaningful business results. About 2,500 businesses in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom were surveyed by Constant Contact, a provider of digital marketing tools for small businesses and nonprofits.

Nearly half (44 percent) of small businesses surveyed cited rising costs of goods as their top concern.

About 62 percent of reported that tariffs have impacted sourcing and operations. Another 46 percent of small businesses globally have increased prices, while 39 percent have switched suppliers and 22 percent have delayed planned launches.

• Small businesses in the U.S. are most likely to say they are "not confident at all" in the effectiveness of their marketing.
• In Canada, nearly half of the businesses have increased prices and 69 percent face supply issues.
• 45 percent of Canadian small- and medium-sized business or enterprises have been negatively impacted by changes to U.S. trade policies this year.
• 47 percent of Canadian small- and medium-sized business or enterprises expect enthusiasm for buying Canadian-made products and services to grow through the rest of the year.
• Small businesses in Australia and New Zealand have the highest confidence in their economy, with 67 percent feeling optimistic the rest of this year.