Trump’s New SBA Size Standards Call Big Business “Small” — And Main Street Will Pay

From our friends at the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR)—The Small Business Administration (SBA) is proposing to radically overhaul the standards the federal government uses to decide which companies count as small. The change would immediately bring more than 114,000 additional firms under that designation, making them eligible for federal loan guarantees, contract set-asides, and other support earmarked for small businesses.

Public comments on the proposal are due Sept. 21, 2026.

A private equity firm with $1 billion in annual revenue, a casino with $744 million, an advertising agency with $543 million, a software company with 3,600 employees — all would qualify as small businesses under proposed SBA size standards put forward by the Trump administration.

A New Way to Define “Small” That Only Gets Bigger

The SBA has long maintained size standards. They vary by industry and are generally based on the number of employees a business has or its annual revenue. These thresholds not only determine eligibility for federal programs; they also determine which firms are exempt from regulations that do not apply to small businesses. Many state laws and programs are also pegged to the SBA’s definitions. READ MORE.

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