During Questioning, U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer Tells Shaheen No Aid Planned for Small Businesses Harmed by Trade War

**Shaheen highlights trade war impact on NH businesses and relays question from owner of Moonlight Meadery about the administration’s long-term plan on trade going forward**

**You can watch the video here**

(Washington, DC) – Today U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) questioned U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during an Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. As the lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Shaheen led questioning of the U.S. Trade Representative on the Trump administration’s trade policies and how they are affecting small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country.

Shaheen highlighted Moonlight Meadery of Londonderry, a small business that has been forced to lay off workers due to retaliatory tariffs imposed by China and canceled a critical contract for the local company, as a result of the administration’s trade war. Shaheen toured Moonlight Meadery last Friday, and posed the following question from its founder and CEO Michael Fairbrother during today’s hearing:

“I’d like to ask them what the plan is. And I’d like to ask them why they are asking small businesses to bear the brunt of this policy. It doesn’t seem fair.”

When pressed by Shaheen on whether the administration is contemplating providing aid to small businesses who have been negatively affected, as they have for farmers, Lighthizer said:

“Not at this time, no.”

You can watch their full exchange HERE.

Several Senators followed up on Shaheen’s line of questioning, expressing bipartisan concern for small businesses being hurt by the administration’s trade war.

Senator Shaheen is strongly opposed to the administration’s tariff policy, which has escalated a trade war with China, as well as critical US allies and New Hampshire trading partners. In response to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, Shaheen sponsored bipartisan legislation to require congressional approval of tariffs. Shaheen, a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, has also called on the Small Business Administration (SBA) to investigate the impact of the Trump administration’s tariff policies on American small businesses, and sent a letter to President Trump urging him to reconsider his tariff plan.