{"id":37600,"date":"2026-06-16T16:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/37600\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:43:09","slug":"dhl-small-businesses-in-u-s-adjust-priorities-to-cope-with-tariffs-and-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/37600\/","title":{"rendered":"DHL: small businesses in U.S. adjust priorities to cope with tariffs and costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the halfway mark of 2026, U.S. small- and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) are recalibrating to a landscape defined by sticky inflation, ongoing tariff uncertainty, and an accelerating, but uneven, adoption of AI, according to a study from DHL.<\/a><\/p>\n

Researchers found that SMEs remain broadly confident about the rest of 2026, yet margin pressure from tariffs, rising costs, and sustainability demands is reshaping priorities and investment decisions, according to a survey over 400 SME decision-makers across a variety of industries.<\/p>\n

For example, for U.S. SMEs considering international expansion, tariffs and shifting trade policies remain the single greatest deterrent to going global: 35% cite import duties and regulations as their top hurdle, eclipsing logistics challenges (18%), finding reliable local partners or suppliers (13%), market competition (10%), and geopolitical issues (10%).
Reflecting that challenge, 53% of respondents say they have delayed or reconsidered expansion plans this year, and 42% said they will not pursue new foreign markets in the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n

And rising expenses are dominating business planning. Nearly eight in ten SMEs (78%) say tariffs and trade restrictions have driven up their costs, and almost half of those firms (45%) report an increase in business costs by 10% or more this year. As a result, two-thirds (66%) have already raised prices in 2026\u201416% significantly and 50% slightly\u2014while another 4% expect to follow suit before year-end.<\/p>\n

Seeking solutions, SMEs say technology could also help with growth and reducing costs, yet only 7% selected AI or automation as their top investment priority. And 43% are not using AI at all. The good news for the workforce is that those SMEs that are using AI are using it to enhance (not replace) people; just 2% deploy the technology with the explicit goal of reducing headcount. The findings suggest many SMEs still view AI as either too complex or too resource-intensive to implement, despite its potential business benefits.<\/p>\n

But despite those external headwinds, most SMEs have proven more adaptable than they anticipated when setting 2026 plans and goals. Six months into the year, more than one-third of respondents reported outperforming their 2026 business plans: 14% say they are \u201cfar exceeding expectations,\u201d and another 24% are \u201cslightly exceeding\u201d them. An additional 36% indicate they are meeting forecasts, while 21% are running slightly behind and just 5% describe results as \u201csignificantly below expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most striking findings from our Mid-Year 2026 SME Survey is just how optimistic U.S. small and medium-sizes businesses are right now, which is not something you’d necessarily expect given the environment,\u201d Greg Hewitt, CEO, DHL Express U.S., said in a release.<\/p>\n

\u201cTariff policy is still evolving, inflation has proven stickier than most projected, energy costs have spiked again, and global conflicts are adding new layers of uncertainty. And yet, 85% of SMEs say they’re confident in meeting their goals for the rest of the year. That’s not a number you manufacture. That reflects real operational discipline built up over several very hard years,\u201d Hewitt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, the pressures are real. Nearly eight in ten SMEs tell us tariffs and trade restrictions have pushed their costs higher, and two-thirds have already passed some of that on to customers. The margin squeeze is forcing businesses to make sharper decisions about where and how they grow internationally; they\u2019re not abandoning global ambition but recalibrating it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the halfway mark of 2026, U.S. small- and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) are recalibrating to a landscape defined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21057],"tags":[21073,21072,33722],"class_list":["post-37600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dhl","tag-deutsche-post","tag-dhl","tag-small-and-medium-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}