>>60750509 >>60750517 >>60750521 >>60750524 >Many companies are also struggling. Small businesses, which do not have the cash reserves or economies of scale to absorb policy shocks, have been the hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs.
>John Arensmeyer, the chief executive of the Small Business Majority, an industry group, warns that many will go under by the end of the year.
>“Small businesses are just being hammered by these tariffs. The tariffs themselves are cutting into their profit margins, but also it’s the uncertainty,” says Arensmeyer.
>On top of the trade war, small companies are also wrestling with Trump’s immigration crackdown and cuts to government grants.
>Across the US economy, finance and healthcare are points of strength alongside tech. But growth in these sectors is masking wider economic problems.
>The surge in second-quarter GDP was most likely a blip, driven by a fall in imports, which flattered the numbers because of how they are calculated. Imports tumbled after Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs announcement.
>Across the first six months of the year, growth slowed to 1.2pc, down from 2.5pc last year. The Federal Reserve expects the economy to expand by 1.4pc across 2025.
>Half of this may be driven by AI investment. Jens Nordvig, the founder of Exante Data, has calculated that the ongoing AI boom could grow the US economy by 0.7pc in 2025.
>Trump deserves some credit. While most of the surge in AI investment has been driven by market forces, the president has been a booster of the technology and has championed data centre investment in the US.
>However, Nordvig’s numbers suggest the outlook would be bleak without this surge. The foundations of the US economy are shaky, dependent on just one sector for much of its growth.
