Cantwell Joins Small Business Owners on SCOTUS Steps To Urge Highest Court & Congress To Halt Trump’s Illegal Tariffs

Cantwell Joins Small Business Owners on SCOTUS Steps To Urge Highest Court & Congress To Halt Trump's Illegal Tariffs

Seattle's Acme Food Sales, Auburn's Peterson Cheese join Cantwell. Owner of Wenatchee's Cocoon says: "Our business isn't run on a whim, and our country shouldn't [be] either."

WASHINGTON D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined a group of small business owners from across the country in a press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court to push back against President Donald Trump's reckless tariff policies.

"I want to be clear: Small businesses are paying the Trump tariffs. Small businesses are the ones who are being impacted, and you heard their stories, and my colleagues on Capitol Hill need to heed this advice and do something to put Congress back in charge. If relief doesn't come fast enough, millions of jobs will be lost and livelihoods will be decimated," Sen. Cantwell said.

"You deserve stability and certainty, and I want to fight every day until you get it. The Supreme Court must end these tariffs. The President must follow the law. Small businesses must be repaid for the illegal tariffs."

Small businesses are hurting - Trump's trade war is costing business owners their livelihoods, eliminating jobs, and raising prices for everyday Americans. Leaders of three Washington state businesses joined Sen. Cantwell in D.C. - Seattle company Acme Food Sales, Inc, founded by Ukrainian immigrants in 1963; Cocoon, an innovative travel gear company out of Wenatchee; and Peterson Cheese, based in Auburn.

"We've been working with the same factory since 1991," said Travis McMaster, owner of Wenatchee-based outdoor retailer in Cocoon. He added that the company decided to switch from its longstanding factory in China to a different factory in India upon hearing that the Trump administration planned to impose tariffs on China. "And then at the end of July, I got three days' notice that the [India] tariffs will be more than the China tariffs. So here we are - we did the right thing, shifted out of China to a country where there was opportunity. We need to put a stop to these quick changes. Our business isn't run on a whim, and our country shouldn't [be] either."

"The tariffs we have to pay now make it basically impossible to continue the business," said Michael Buechli, owner of Mike's Organic Foods in Boise, ID. "We're sold in Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Mom's Organic Market - so go get it now while you can, because I'm not sure how much longer it's going to be there."

Video of the press conference is available HERE; photos are HERE; a transcript of Sen. Cantwell and Travis McMaster's remarks can be found HERE.

Last week, the Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments on whether Trump's sweeping April 2^nd 'Liberation Day' tariffs are constitutional. SCOTUS will review two cases, Learning Resources v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections - where the Trump administration asked SCOTUS to review a ruling by a lower federal court that struck down many of Trump's tariffs on August 29^th. SCOTUS will begin hearing arguments in early November.

In April, Sen. Cantwell introduced the bipartisan Trade Review Act of 2025 to reaffirm Congress' key role in setting and approving U.S. trade policy, and reestablish limits on the president's ability to impose unilateral tariffs. Sen. Cantwell's bill has 12 additional cosponsors - an equal mix of Republicans and Democrats - and been endorsed by multiple major U.S. business organizations, including the National Retail Federation, which is the largest retail trade association in the world.

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