As the second Trump administration's tariffs begin to bite, small businesses are more vulnerable to price increases and supply shocks than are large companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned the Trump administration at an event celebrating its Small Business Day on May 1.

U.S. small business importers need a tariff exclusion process to avoid "irreparable harm," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a letter to the secretaries of commerce and the treasury and the U.S. trade representative.

With so much uncertainty occurring with U.S. import regulations, companies should develop multiple strategies that address potentially different tariff outcomes, with some strategies being deployed in the short-term and others being deployed further down the road as the geopolitical situation becomes more clear, according to trade experts with professional services firm KPMG.

Domestic and foreign automakers, auto dealers and MEMA, the suppliers' association, asked the treasury secretary, commerce secretary and U.S. trade representative to rescind the planned 25% tariff on auto parts, which is now planned for early May under a Section 232 national security action.

Supply chain solutions provider OIA Global acquired JF Moran, a U.S.-based customs brokerage firm. In a press release about the acquisition, OIA Global said that it will expand its "trade compliance expertise" and strengthen its footprint in North America.

Singapore-headquartered Maxeon Solar Technologies is considering a challenge to CBP's decision to hold its solar panels for alleged non-compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, it said in an April 4 news release. The company said that it is "considering exercising its right to contest CBP's decision at the U.S. Court of International Trade to demonstrate that Maxeon's legacy supply chains are fully UFLPA-compliant."

A recent rise in tariffs, export controls and other trade actions will lead to rising prices in semiconductor supply chains, said Sree Ramaswamy, former senior adviser to former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Trade groups mostly reacted in alarm to the dramatic change in tariffs with every country that is coming this month, whether because of expected retaliation against their exports or, in the case of sectors that are largely supplied by imports, the increase in costs.

The International Labor Organization confirmed cases of forced and child labor in Turkmenistan, according to its report on labor conditions in the country.

Tariffs cause ripple effects throughout the international trade and business communities beyond just the levies on goods at the time of entry, experts said during a Zencargo "Tariff Talk" webinar on March 31.