The Trump administration is working to give some MAGA-friendly businesses special relief from President Donald Trump’s tariffs, per documents reviewed exclusively by Salon.
On March 27, Benjamin Grayson, the deputy chief of staff at the Small Business Administration, sent an email to Samuel Scales, a United States Trade Representative staffer, concerning a Florida-based crossbow manufacturer, Barnett Crossbows. The CEO of Surge Outdoors & Barnett Crossbows, Ryan Busbice, is an outspoken Trump supporter.
In his communication to Scales, Grayson said that Barnett Crossbows was “caught in a weird spot with the tariffs” and asked, “Is there anything your office can do?” while passing along a blurb from Busbice describing the company’s situation.
“We are trying to help him from the SBA side with a loan,” Grayson said of his own efforts to help Busbice’s business.
In the blurb, Busbice said his company was in the process of reshoring its manufacturing after “cleaning up the business” in the wake of disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. ButTrump’s tariffs, he continued, put a “significant strain on the company’s financials.”
Busbice, in a blurb written before March 27, specifically cited a 20% increase in the tariff on all imported goods and the 25% tax on metal goods, in particular. Trump so far has only threatened a 20% tax on all imported goods. However, Trump has implemented a 20% tariff on all goods imported from China.
“These unexpected costs are not only impacting short-term operations but also jeopardizing the capital required to bring manufacturing back home. Despite their commitment to reshoring, Barnett faces an uphill battle. The tariffs, intended to incentivize U.S. manufacturing, are instead draining the resources needed to execute the transition,” the blurb reads, according to documents reviewed by Salon and obtained by American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog.
“Without a structured program to offset these financial pressures, Barnett and countless other small and medium-sized manufacturers will struggle to move production back to the U.S., ultimately leading to further reliance on foreign manufacturing or, worse — business closures,” the message continued.
Communications from later in March looped in Christina Sevilla, a deputy assistant at USTR; Marshall Stallings, director for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement; and Ethan Stallings, another staffer at USTR.
“Hi Sam and Marshall, consulting with colleagues in USTR Industry office on this small business tariff issue and will follow up to coordinate with Marshall to connect with Ben,” Grayson wrote.
“Hi Ben, USTR works closely with SBA’s Office of International Trade to engage with small businesses. Look forward to connecting with you,” reads an email from Sevilla.
Later communications show Grayson, Scales and Sevilla setting up a meeting for early April. In a description of a meeting involving Scales, Sevilla, Stallings and Grayson, parts of Grayson’s original email to Scales is passed along, including a reference to Busbice and his crossbow business. Large parts of the note, however, are redacted.
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The USTR’s involvement is notable because of the office’s role in potentially providing tariff exemptions, which the office handled in the first Trump administration.
Bryan Riley, director of the Free Trade Initiative at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, told Salon that there was no public exemption process for the tariffs Trump has implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
“There’s currently no formal exemption process that exists short of President Trump just deciding who he’s going to put tariffs on, and who he’s not going to put tariffs on,” Riley said.
The 20% tariff on all imported goods was levied by Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, under which there is no formal exclusion process. Tariffs known as Section 232 tariffs, which include a 25% tariff on steel, do have a formal exclusion process, established in the first Trump administration, that is supposed to be handled by the Commerce Department. The exact rules around both of these tariffs have developed significantly since March and the situation continues to evolve rapidly.
Barnett Crossbows, also known as Barnett Outdoors, is a private company and thus not required to disclose its financial information. The company’s website also suggests that the crossbows are made in the United States.
In 2021, Barnett Crossbows was acquired by Surge Outdoors, a prominent supplier of hunting and outdoor gear. It was not clear from the communications if Barnett Crossbows ended up applying for or receiving a loan from a partner institution, though they did reveal that Grayson and Busbice met prior to Grayson’s communications with Scales.
Ray Drew, a consultant with expertise in SBA lending, told Salon that, in practical terms, “It’s really hard to be too big for the SBA.” Busbice did not respond to a request for comment.
What is unusual about the exchange between Busbice and Grayson is that the former’s case was being directly handled by the deputy chief of staff, a senior SBA position.
Busbice’s social media displays clear pro-Trump messaging, including multiple favorable references to Trump and his allies. A pinned post on Instagram from last year includes a photo of him and the president together. The documents also reveal that the two were connected by Tyler Daniel, a former political director at the Scalise Leadership Fund, a fundraising committee for Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. and other Republican political efforts. Daniel currently works at FTI Consulting.
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“I’ve been all in on @realdonaldtrump since the beginning. This is the most important election of our lifetime. Please go vote…EVERY SINGLE VOTE COUNTS!” reads Busbice’s Instagram post featuring him and the president.
FEC filings also show that Busbice has given thousands of dollars to Republican political efforts in recent years, including donations to the campaigns of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., and Trump himself. Though Busbice said he had been “all in” on Trump since the beginning, FEC records show that his earliest donation to Trump came in May 2019; the filings reveal that Busbice donated a total of $2,050 to Trump in the 2020 election cycle.
In 2024, Busbice donated $4,300 to the campaign of Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., and another $4,300 to a committee supporting Higgins’ election. He also donated $1,000 to Johnson’s campaign and another $1,000 to a committee supporting Johnson, along with $2,000 to WinRed, a GOP fundraising operation.
Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, told Salon that the American people ought to know when the administration is working to soften the impact of its policies for its political allies.
“The administration’s refusal to address the harm its erratic trade policies are causing small businesses has left SBA officials scrambling to paper over the impact — in this case, for a weapons manufacturer whose CEO is a long-time supporter of President Trump,” Chukwu said. “This is exactly why transparency is so important — the public has a right to know when government resources are being used behind closed doors to shield an administration from the consequences of its own economic decisions.”
These revelations come at a time when many American businesses are struggling to make ends meet amid the economic hardship caused by Trump’s tariffs, and as the SBA is making it harder for small businesses to qualify for loans. Indeed, it comes as the SBA claims to be putting a stop to political favoritism and wasteful spending.
Earlier this year, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler boasted of her agency’s effort to “overhaul” the Community Advantage Small Business Lending Company, which was intended to grant loans to underserved communities.
“Community Advantage is a perfect example of how the last Administration weaponized government programs to tip the scale against deserving small businesses and toward preferred groups and political allies, even when it meant greater risk to American taxpayers,” Loeffler said in a statement at the time.
Neither the SBA nor the USTR responded to requests for comment.
