In all consumers, business conference rooms and Wall Street, the feeling of economic optimism that came with the start of the second Trump administration quickly decreased in the midst of growing uncertainty around the impact of prices and potential recession. Main Street experienced a similar quarter of work, according to the new quarterly Small CNBC business survey | Surveymonkey.
According to the CNBC data | Survey. This is compared to 39% of the state of the economy as excellent or good in the survey of the first quarter.
Seventy percent of small business owners said they thought that the country was heading for a recession, a feeling that is somewhat shared in the political aisle – almost all democratic respondents predict a recession while almost half of the Republicans also did (47%).
In addition, 51% of respondents declared disapproving how Donald Trump manages his work as president. This is compared to 39% during his last quarter as president in 2020.
The confidence of small businesses followed by the survey is now lower than any time of Trump’s first mandate, other than during the worst quarter of the cobidial crisis and the last quarter of its presidency (which was more a reflection of the Biden elections and expectations on the main street concerning the trade policies of the Democratic Party).
The CNBC / Surveymonkey survey was carried out between April 21 and 25, 2025, among a national sample of 2,257 owners of small self-identified companies.
Large companies have continued to ring the alarm this profits season concerning the impact that the prices offered would have on consumers. Just last week, the Pandora jewelry brand warned of significant price increases through the affordable jewelry industry; Mattel said it could Increase toys prices like Barbies and Hot Wheels; And Microsoft announced Price increase for Xbox consoles and controllers.
Small businesses provide a similar price stiffness. Fifty -one percent of the respondents said they expect the changes in commercial policy to have a negative effect on their business in the next 12 months, against 27% who said it would have no effect and 21% that said it will have a positive effect.
Overall, 66% of small businesses have been or expect to be affected by prices. While inflation (24%) and consumer demand (18%) remain the main risks listed by owners of small businesses, prices increased to 17%, compared to 10%in the last quarter.
The CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, told Megan Cassella de CNBC earlier this month that the corporate lobbying group was “flooded by requests for information on small businesses, for the relief” of potential prices.
The American Chamber of Commerce has Calls Trump’s White House To automatically lift prices on all small businesses, as well as other efforts, this would avoid inflicting “irreparable damages” on small businesses.
“We are deeply concerned about the fact that even if it only takes weeks or months to conclude agreements, many small businesses will suffer irreparable damage,” Clark wrote in a letter sent on April 30 to the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the trade secretary Howard Lutnick and the American commercial representative Jamieson Greer.
“The room asks that the administration takes immediate measures to save small American companies and eliminate a recession,” she wrote.
To date, the White House has not acted on these requests, and continuous uncertainty on potential prices and their impact has led to an increase in pessimism on the economy and an increasing fear of a potential recession.
Many small businesses depend on manufacturing in China, now subject to 145%prices, which has led a lot Chinese factories’ orders break.
Friday, President Trump declared in a social position of truth that he could be ready to reduce prices on China 80% and teased that many other commercial offers arrive. “Many commercial offers in the hopper, all good (great!)!” Trump wrote.
All commercial uncertainty leads to additional financial stress on small business owners, both for their businesses and their own portfolios. Sixty percent of the respondents said they were either very or somewhat stressed by their business finances these days, while 63% said they were very stressed or somewhat stressed by their own finances. Although inflation is the first contributor to stress at all levels, the prices ranked second.
The president of the Fed, Jerome Powell, speaking on Wednesday After the federal reserve has been stable on interest rateswarned that the proposed prices could result in a slowdown in economic growth and potentially an increase in long -term inflation.
“If the strong increases in the prices that have been announced are supported, they are likely to generate an increase in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth and an increase in unemployment. The effects on inflation could be short -lived, reflecting a unique change in the price level.
