Trump business official addresses economic challenges during Fort Worth stop
Kelly Loeffler, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, said federal support is strong for small business owners despite economic headwinds related to tariffs and high fuel prices.
The head of a small business advocacy group, however, challenged that perspective.
On Thursday,April 23, Loeffler visited Chieffalo Americana, a western hat and apparel boutique at 4698 Camp Bowie Blvd., where she met with the owners, husband and wife Rodger and Jackie Chieffalo.
The Chieffalos opened their storefront five years ago, which features American-made and vintage clothing, jewelry, belt buckles and refurbished western hats of the kind once worn by Fort Worth’s Amon G. Carter. Taking a cue from Carter, who gifted the hats to friends, business associates and dignitaries, Rodger Chieffalo gave President Donald Trump one of his custom-designed hats, he said.
The Chieffalo’s business model is based on a belief in the superiority of American goods. The line of denim they carry is designed in Los Angeles using fabric that is milled in Louisiana and cut in Georgia. A style of shirt they sell is made by an independent designer in the U.S. using vintage deadstock fabric — and is the same kind of shirt worn by Billy Bob Thornton on the TV show “Landman.”
Chieffalo’s vintage hats are often procured at estate sales, after which Rodger Chieffalo cuts and shapes them to resemble the Carter “Shady Oaks” hat, which he called an urban take on the traditional cowboy hat.
“What you buy here, that money goes back into the system,” said Rodger Chieffalo of the small businesses and artisans his shop helps support.
After touring the shop, Loeffler talked with the Chieffalos about the Small Business Administration’s loan program, which Rodger Chieffalo said he’d used numerous times over his nearly 50-year career as a real estate developer, restaurateur and, now, retail owner.
The SBA backs loans for small businesses that banks might otherwise deem too risky. But Richard Trent, executive director of the Main Street Alliance, which lobbies for policies that help thousands of small businesses across the country, said recent layoffs at the SBA have made it harder for business owners to get those loans approved.
Last year, the SBA reduced its staff by roughly half. When asked about this, Loeffler said the reduction hasn’t impacted loan processing, and that many of the staff members who were laid off were part of a COVID-era buildup.
“The agency now has hit a record level of lending, $45 billion last year, for the first time ever in its 72-year history,” said Loeffler. Nearly $5 billion of that, Loeffler added, went to Texas small businesses.
And while the Trump administration’s higher tariffs on imported goods haven’t eaten into Chieffalos’ profits, they have affected many other small businesses around the country. Trent said tariffs have created uncertainty around material and operating costs. Business owners can now file for a tariff refund, but that process has been difficult to navigate, Trent said.
Rising fuel prices are also contributing to higher shipping and logistics costs for small businesses, Trent added. He placed the blame for that on President Trump for entering into what he called “a war of choice” against Iran.
When asked how the SBA might help small businesses better navigate those challenges, Loeffler said she didn’t want to minimize those things, but she praised the president and his handling of the war in Iran and his desire to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil.
“This is a short-term disruption, and it’s on the path to getting energy prices lower for longer than we’ve ever seen them,” Loeffler said.
Loeffler predicted an economic uptick as a result of the president’s tax cuts, his push for deregulation and his trade and industrial policies. But that optimism was a far cry from the tone Trent took.
“They’re not doing right by America’s small business community,” he said of the Trump administration.
In Trent’s estimation, those at the federal level aren’t listening enough to small business owners, with many of the administration’s policies aimed at enriching large corporations. Even the tax breaks, Trent said, haven’t been enough to offset the economic instability caused by other policy decisions.