President Donald Trump has sparked a new debate online after Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler gave a statement defending his deregulation efforts.

In a video post on X, Loeffler claimed that former President Joe Biden’s administration burdened small businesses with “$5 trillion” in regulatory costs. Instead, she claimed that Trump’s administration has reversed this trend with tax cuts and deregulation that have helped small businesses grow in the U.S. She said:

“The ongoing federal relief is cutting taxes and cutting regulations. Look, Democrats layered on five trillion dollars of regulation over the Biden administration. They voted to raise taxes on every hardworking American, on every farmer, on every builder in this country.

And so this president is focused on bringing prices down for the long term, and that’s what’s going to happen as soon as this conflict is ended.”

While Loeffer claimed that Trump “dug America’s small businesses out from under a $5 trillion mountain of red tape piled on by the Biden Administration,” there are no official reports that verify this amount.

Since the start of his second term, Trump has made deregulation a central part of his economic reforms. The White House also made a similar case in January 2026.

The White House claimed that Trump delivered tax relief for small businesses, including adding provisions for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted during his first term. The White House also added that Trump’s new policy helped create an onshoring portal that connects small businesses with more than 1 million domestic suppliers and producers.

Meanwhile, Biden’s policies were the opposite of those of the Trump administration. His administration believed that regulations were needed to protect workers, consumers, public health, and the environment. This increased paperwork, compliance costs, and administrative burdens for small businesses.

Trump’s administration has pursued an aggressive effort to reduce federal regulations. According to Government Executive, Trump’s directive required agencies to identify 10 existing regulations to revoke for every new regulation proposed. It was later reported that agencies issued 129 deregulatory actions for every new regulation in just the first eight months of Trump’s second term.

Some experts have also questioned this figure. They say the administration likely inflated its deregulation numbers. According to researchers at the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, the administration used different criteria when counting new regulations and deregulations, which may have caused inflation.

That is only one part of the picture. A May 2026 report from the Democratic minority staff of the Joint Economic Committee tells a different story. According to the report, 2025 saw businesses with fewer than 10 employees lose 292,200 jobs, mainly because of tariff-related costs and economic uncertainty.

Netizens also weighed in on Loeffler’s remarks as her video did rounds on the internet. One user said:

The fall back: “as soon as this conflict is over.”

Fact is, every tax cut puts us further into the deficit hole.

We won’t have to go to war with China. Xi just sits back and waits until we expend our military capital, go into default, and all the lesser nations look to him.

Another asked:

Where is the data?

𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 has violated our trust in him to use good stewardship in restoring Our Republic.. and rolling back the decay put upon us by Reptilian feral ..Jihadi .. DemoKKKrats

A third fumed:

Another Trump admin blowing smoke as the U.S. economy collapses as will more small businesses. Nothing coming out of the mouths of anyone on the Trump admin can be trusted.

Another questioned the figure and said:

$5T?!?

Looking forward to Kelly Privilege justifying those numbers. While she’s at it, she can detail for us how her idol continues to expand the debt.

These people don’t give one shit about hardworking Americans.