A federal appeals court ruled in the Trump Administration's favor yesterday, deciding President Trump can keep many of his tariffs while legal challenges play out.
The courts will now decide if the president has the authority to impose tariffs after he claimed a national emergency.
While the president's tariffs have added to many entrepreneurs' concerns about the future of their businesses, Colorado has been a beacon of assurance.
Census data shows it’s one of only a handful of states that has seen its number of small business applications grow over the course of the last year — ticking up 3.1% compared to a national decline of 3%.
“There's something happening here in Colorado where we consistently stay this very strong region for entrepreneurship and new business formation,” Hanna Scovill with the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce said.
Skovill and the group’s CEO, J.J. Ament, said quality of life and pay are two top reasons people feel drawn to start businesses in Colorado. They add the greater metro area has really seen its innovation sector explode over the last decade — something that’s not only attractive to employees, but entrepreneurs.
“The number of patents that we see per capita here in Colorado compared to other states [is higher],” Scovill said. “So really, being this area that is very supportive of entrepreneurship, and having this innovative sort of culture, I think, really helps us to grow.”
Between 1995 and 2019, Colorado small business employment grew by 36.3%, which exceeded the national average.
Denver7 asked Ament, the chamber’s CEO, what’s in the water here in Colorado. He said when you think about where Colorado came from in terms of the gold rush, growth and development are in our state’s blood.
“That's the whole history and heritage of our state,” Ament said. “You know, come to Colorado, go west, strike it rich in silver and gold and copper, and then onward to agriculture and livestock, and then the energy and now quantum computing. It's been a state where people have always come to seek their fortune and fame.”
The Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce is also different than most across the country. It’s exclusively funded by its members — of which 85% are small businesses — rather than having public subsidies.
