Short Takes – 5-12-25

Small businesses dread tariff fallout. WashingtonPost.com briefing. Pull quote: “As Trump pushes through punishing tariffs on some of the country’s biggest trading partners, small-business owners fear they could be caught in the crosshairs. Without the large margins to weather abrupt changes in their supply chains or the lobbying power to ask for special exemptions, many small businesses are bracing for devastating losses. Even if Trump were to go back on his tariffs, multiple small-business owners said the breakneck changes in policy make planning difficult and can have a chilling effect on growth.”

Budget cuts and the fraying of international partnerships. TheSpaceReview.com article. Pull quote: ““You take something like Gateway, for instance. Europe may not stop their development just because the US changes their strategy,” said Peter Cannito, CEO of Redwire Space, in an earnings call Monday. “They may just repurpose or redirect or look for new partners internationally to continue that development.””

The hidden ways Trump, DOGE are shutting down parts of the U.S. government. WashingtonPost.com article. Pull quote: “At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, key work on weather forecasting has slowed to a crawl because Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick must sign off personally on many contracts and grants. And at the Social Security Administration, some employees are running out of paper, pens and printer toner because the U.S. DOGE Service has placed a $1 spending limit on government-issued credit cards. (DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency, though it is not a Cabinet-level agency.)”

Flights Could Be Disrupted Across U.S., Transportation Secretary Warns. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “Still, Mr. Duffy said that the country and Congress had not paid enough attention to improving the “antiquated systems” across major airports, and described the recent issues at Newark as a consequence of “stress on an old network.” ⁋ “What you see in Newark is going to happen in other places across the country,” Mr. Duffy said in the interview, on NBC’s “Meet the Press With Kristen Welker.” “It has to be fixed.”