Letter to SBA Administrator Loeffler and Others, November 21, 2025 — Senator Edward J. Markey

Summary

A letter dated November 21, 2025 from United States Senator Edward J. Markey to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Council of Economic Advisers Acting Chair Pierre Yared. The letter asks the Administration to prepare a process for refunding tariff payments to small businesses if the Supreme Court strikes down tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). It cites the November 5, 2025 oral argument in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and states that small businesses could be owed more than $30 billion. It poses five questions on refund plans, equitable access for small businesses, handling of refund volume and preventing windfalls to large corporations, and requests written answers by November 29, 2025.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                                             November 21, 2025



The Honorable Kelly Loeffler                                 The Honorable Howard Lutnick
Administrator                                                Secretary
U.S. Small Business Administration                           U.S. Department of Commerce
409 3rd Street, SW                                           1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20416                                         Washington, DC 20230

The Honorable Jamieson Greer                                 Mr. Pierre Yared
Ambassador                                                   Acting Chair
U.S. Trade Representative                                    Council of Economic Advisers
600 17th Street, NW                                          1650 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006                                         Washington, DC 20500


Dear Administrator Loeffler, Secretary Lutnick, Ambassador Greer, and Acting Chair Yared,

As the holiday season approaches, Main Street small businesses aren’t asking for gifts from this
Administration, they’re simply demanding the return of tariff dollars that President Trump
wrongfully took from them. These are the same small, family-run firms that have borne the brunt
of the President’s legally dubious tariffs, paying billions in extra costs. Now, with the Supreme
Court openly questioning the tariffs’ legality and poised to strike them down, the Administration
must be prepared to offer small businesses a simple and straightforward process to seek and
receive tariff payment refunds. During this make-or-break shopping season, their very survival
depends on it.

To date, the Trump administration has extracted more than $100 billion in tariff payments using
a highly questionable invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(IEEPA).1 It is estimated that American small businesses have paid for roughly one-third of that
total.2 President Trump is now openly musing about using that money — tax revenue, really —
to give $2,000 “rebate” checks to Americans and to pay down the national debt.3 If the President
1
  Mike Snider, Trump says potential $2,000 tariff dividend checks could come mid-2026. See latest., USA Today
(Nov. 18, 2025), https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/11/18/trump-tariff-checks-2026-update/
87333616007/.
2
  U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship (2025), The Trump tariffs: A small business crisis,
https://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/a/7/a760a470-5f3b-40ca-b728-634359e07490/
DB068FE37D91B435A2A5129F16312542E67F495E3EE68150167EF9FCC14ADE1A.the-trump-tariffs-a-small-
business-crisis.pdf
3
  Megan Cerullo, Trump proposes $2,000 dividend funded by tariffs. Here's what experts say about the plan, CBS
News (Nov. 17, 2025), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-2000-tariff-rebate-check-what-to-know/.
wants to finance pie-in-sky economic policies, he should do it by reversing disastrous tax
policies that shower trillions of dollars in tax breaks on large corporations and the wealthiest
Americans, not on the backs of small businesses through tariff revenue that it will likely have to
refund to them.

That’s because the tariffs are in serious legal jeopardy. On November 5, 2025, the Supreme
Court heard oral arguments in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the case brought by small
business owners challenging Trump’s tariffs. In the arguments, the Court voiced skepticism of
their legality and appeared ready to strike them down. The Court also grappled with how the
Administration would pay back the billions of dollars in tariff payments collected. Referring to
the potential refund process, Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked one lawyer arguing the case:
“How would this work? It seems to me like this could be a mess.”4 Indeed, if the Administration
fails to prepare an equitable refund process, it will be a mess of your own making.

On August 21, 2025, nearly three months ago, I urged Administration officials to prepare a
refund process if Trump’s tariffs are struck down. Lower courts have already ruled the tariffs
unlawful, and the Supreme Court’s skepticism sets up the prospect that the Administration will
be required to repay small businesses more than $30 billion, something the Administration has
already recognized it would be obligated to do. Before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit in the tariff case, the U.S. Department of Justice said that “the companies that brought the
lawsuit would receive a refund, including interest, for tariffs paid if they ultimately prevail in the
litigation,”5 and later Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Administration “would have
to” issue refunds if the Supreme Court struck the tariffs down.6

For the small businesses leading the litigation challenging the tariffs, this isn’t about politics, it’s
about survival. The Administration’s tariffs have brought pain to main street, threatening to
shutter decades-old, family-run small businesses. Small businesses don’t have Mar-a-Lago
memberships, golden gifts, or ballroom invitations granting them special access to tariff
exemptions. Their only remedy is justice in federal court. If, as expected, the Supreme Court
strikes down Trump’s tariffs, it will be the Administration’s job to and refund small businesses
what they are owed.

The Administration must therefore immediately commit to a plan to ensure small businesses
receive the refunds they deserve, without bureaucratic obstruction, given that many cannot afford
4
  Transcript of Oral Argument, Learning Resources, Inc. v. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, No. 24-
1287 (U.S. Supreme Court Nov. 5, 2025),
https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2025/24-1287_b07d.pdf
5
  Jan Wolfe and Alex Leary, Tariff Ruling Is Put On Hold While Trump Administration Appeals, Wall St. J. (May
29, 2025), https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-administration-races-to-stop-bombshell-tariff-ruling-
4501e4fe?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqco-XJ2K9ZJ2Gu2VMW-
_g26aCGnHx91D4G737_J14rc5ahqckiYOLP7VQ22hp4%3D&gaa_ts=691ce6eb&gaa_sig=fVAVq-tvprhYt-
QQvDEQK7IhiD81_CdtLvzxApZ7r98ZtSF7-D3Q-2fAcpXeht8IIYhFQdTVYLmCD5IFhE_g9w%3D%3D
6
  Ben Berkowitz, Treasury Would Face “Terrible” Tariff Refund Hit on SCOTUS Loss, Bessent Says, Axios (Sept.
7, 2025).
to hire lawyers to vindicate their rights. If the Administration fails to provide a straightforward
process, it will advantage large, sophisticated businesses over smaller ones.

To understand how you are preparing for this refund process, I ask that you answer the following
questions in writing by November 29, 2025:

   1. Has the Administration made plans to refund tariff payments if the Supreme Court
      declares the tariffs imposed under IEEPA unlawful? Please provide any plans, guidance,
      or memos the Administration has prepared regarding repaying tariff costs to affected
      businesses. To the extent that a tariff refund process may already exist, will the
      Administration modify or expand it to handle any refunds required if the Supreme Court
      strikes down the Trump tariffs?
   2. Will the Administration issue tariff refunds even if a federal court does not specifically
      order refunds for all affected businesses? If not, why not?
   3. If the Administration decides to issue tariff refunds, how does it plan to ensure a smooth
      and equitable process that small businesses can easily navigate?
   4. What actions does the Administration intend to take to ensure that all small businesses
      clearly understand any available refund process? How does the Administration intend to
      address the high volume of refund requests? Has the Administration allocated any
      resources to handle the anticipated volume of refunds?
   5. How will the Administration prevent large corporations that passed tariff costs onto
      consumers from unduly enriching themselves through refund windfalls?

Thank you for your attention to this serious issue.

Sincerely,




 Edward J. Markey
 United States Senator


File and source

File

2025-11-21_ahead-to-sba_ahead-of-holiday-season-ranking-member-markey-renews-ca.pdf

Size

331,440 bytes

SHA-256

ea06ca0eb37964649b4fb24cb17aa79e18f6252839a08a9c53c21ebd7ecfe1de

Our copy

2025-11-21_ahead-to-sba_ahead-of-holiday-season-ranking-member-markey-renews-ca.pdf

Original

No public link identified.