By Russ Webster, President, Food Enterprise Solutions

Trade has become one of the primary arenas of geopolitical competition. Market access, supply-chain reliability, and standards-setting increasingly shape power dynamics among states. And small businesses play an outsized role.

Approximately 97 percent of U.S. exporters are small businesses, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration. While they account for a smaller share of total export value than large multinationals, they dominate by number and by presence, particularly in services exports such as logistics, engineering, compliance, food systems, and technical support.

From a national security perspective, this matters for several reasons.

First, diversification. A trade system dominated by a small number of large firms is inherently brittle. Disruption – whether geopolitical, cyber, or logistical – can have outsized effects. Small businesses distribute economic activity across thousands of actors, making U.S. trade harder to coerce, disrupt, or weaponize.

Second, standards and norms. When American small businesses operate abroad, they carry U.S. expectations with them: contract enforcement, transparency, safety, quality, and rule-of-law assumptions. These norms shape markets in durable ways that outlast any individual transaction.

Third, strategic competition. In many emerging markets, U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) compete directly with state-backed enterprises from authoritarian systems. Their presence offers a non-coercive alternative – commercial engagement without political strings attached and economic influence exercised through markets rather than mandates.

For policymakers, the implication is clear: support for small businesses is not only economic policy, it is national security policy. Neglecting SMEs increases exposure to supply-chain shocks, foreign leverage, public health crises, and strategic competitors filling gaps the United States leaves open. Strengthening them enhances resilience, reduces systemic risk, and amplifies U.S. influence abroad. This does not require reinventing policy frameworks. It requires recognizing what already exists, and aligning strategy accordingly.

As national and global security challenges continue to evolve, policy must evolve with them. Recognizing the role and value of American small businesses clearly in areas like food and trade is a necessary first step.