Free Republic

Many small businesses are still threatened by the trade war facing the United States, even though President Donald Trump suspended most tariffs for 90 days. The escalating tariffs on China have halted imports — and manufacturing — for many American companies, including mom-and-pop stores and family-owned businesses that cannot easily shift production or sourcing to other countries. ‘This is life or death,” says Rick Woldenberg, the CEO of Learning Resources, a century-old toy manufacturing company that makes educational materials for thousands of American schools. Woldenberg told Breitbart News that the Trump administration’s tariffs on China — which hit 145% as...

Smaller trucking businesses are feeling financial pressure after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new standards for semi-trucks to lower air pollution. Andrew John of the John N John Trucking Company warned that the costs associated with the new standards could kill many mom-and-pop trucking businesses. ... They go out of business, and we all know how important mall businesses are to the economy." For the first time in two decades, the EPA released new standards that are 80% stronger than current ones and require semi-trucks to cut harmful nitrogen oxide pollution. ... The EPA estimates the new requirements could...

...Politicians like to say that small companies create two of every three jobs in a given year. That's less impressive when you consider that almost all the 6 million companies in the United States - 99.9 percent of them - are small businesses with fewer than 500 workers. What's more, two-out-of-three masks the fact that most small businesses eliminate more jobs than they create in a given year, either through layoffs, closings or bankruptcy. And many of the rest, the ones that don't shrink or shut down, don't offer much hope for the millions of Americans looking for jobs....

It's a KNIGHT RIDDER story and interesting new bunch of warriors in the War on Terror.