EXCLUSIVE: As the Small Business Administration (SBA) kicked off “Small Business Week” on Monday, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler spoke to Fox News Digital about the work she has done at the agency while pushing back on the Democratic Party’s narrative about the state of the economy.
“What I see on the ground is American manufacturers, small businesses alike are grateful to President Trump for his fair trade policy, for having the strength and the backbone to stand up to adversaries and allies alike and demand that they stop treating Americans unfairly with these trade practices,” Loeffler told Fox News Digital about the current state of the economy as President Donald Trump faces criticism from Democrats and media outlets for his tariff policies.
“I see really strong support and optimism as well for the future. So, while there is a period of change here as we get through these negotiations and with trading partners at the table, we will make sure that small businesses have a big seat at that table, and we are already seeing small businesses invest for the future because they see the opportunity for a made-in-America approach that will really transform the strength of this country not just economically but from a national security perspective.”
Loeffler, speaking to Fox News Digital at an event in Washington, D.C., kicking off “Small Business Week,” said the current media narrative on Trump’s trade policies is “completely counter” to what she sees when she travels the country.
Loeffler explained that she sees small businesses that are “spring-loaded” and “ready to invest.”
“They are fully behind President Trump’s policies to lower our taxes, to have fair trade, President Trump has already brought down core inflation to four-year lows,” Loeffler said. “We’ve seen the jobs come back, almost a half million jobs created in President Trump’s first hundred days, and we’re seeing his regulatory reforms have rollbacks that have already made a huge difference saving small businesses hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions already. And that’s what small businesses want.”
Loeffler pointed out that small businesses make up 99% of all businesses in the country and create two out of three of every new job, and touted that the SBA has seen an 80% increase in loans in Trump’s first 100 days in office.
“Small businesses don’t take out loans unless they have confidence that they’re going to grow, and we’ve seen that small businesses are doing just that,” Loeffler said.
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Loeffler told Fox News Digital that during her tenure, the SBA has been “refocused” on its mission after four years of the Biden administration, and part of that mission has been to implement Trump’s agenda on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and illegal immigration.
The SBA recently eliminated its Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, while placing the office’s employees on administrative leave, and paused grants across the agency that it believes interferes with Trump’s executive orders combating DEI.
“We really needed to level the playing field and get back to serving small businesses,” Loeffler said.
In March, Fox News Digital exclusively reported that the SBA enacted a series of reforms on Thursday aimed at ensuring illegal immigrants do not receive taxpayer benefits while also removing its offices from sanctuary cities.
“We’re moving out of sanctuary cities to keep not only our employees safe, but the small businesses that wanna come in and access our programs,” Loeffler told Fox News Digital. “We also need to relocate them to areas where small businesses are actually booming and that’s not necessarily true in sanctuary cities.“
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Loeffler told Fox News Digital that she is particularly excited about what she sees in the manufacturing sector and what can be accomplished in that area if Trump is able to get his tax cut plan through Congress.
“Manufacturing loans are up 74% and so that Made in America engine is happening to the tune of about a hundred manufacturing loans per week and that’s what President Trump’s agenda has done,” Loeffler said.
“It’s attracted upwards of eight trillion dollars in investments in this country. Much of that will be deployed through small businesses, though it was contributed by large businesses. I’ve talked to many of those CEOs. They deploy it through contractors that come through small businesses. So I’m tremendously excited about the upside that we can see with regard to the tax policy being passed. Hopefully, we have permanent tax cuts that we can deliver to small businesses soon, because I know that the demand for investment by small businesses is there, and it’s really spring-loaded once that tax bill passes.”
