Round Two: Small Importers Sue Again Over Forced-Labor Tariffs

Key Trends

• The Paychex Small Business Jobs Index improved for a fourth straight month in June, matching its highest level since August 2025 — the first four-month consecutive climb since November 2020, led by gains in the West and in leisure & hospitality.

• Tariff exposure is now measurably splitting small businesses from large ones: New York Fed research based on the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey found about 80% of firms passed higher import costs to customers, and firms reporting tariff strain are notably more pessimistic about 2026 revenue and hiring — the paper’s explanation is that larger firms can absorb costs or route around them legally in ways small operators can’t.

Notable Businesses & Launches

• DoorDash integrated directly with Shopify, letting brick-and-mortar Shopify merchants list their catalog on DoorDash’s marketplace — reaching roughly 42 million monthly users — without separate onboarding or manual catalog uploads.

• Bluehost unveiled an AI agent suite aimed at small businesses, with agents that build websites, run online stores, and handle lead capture and booking.

  Unverified

  Coverage traces to a single Bluehost press release syndicated across multiple outlets, not independent reporting — treat capability claims as vendor-stated until third parties test them.

Funding & Investment

• Ant International closed roughly $1.2 billion in Series A funding to expand cross-border payments and what it calls “inclusive financial services” for SMEs — the standout deal in a week that saw $1.7 billion raised across 12 fintech rounds total, a lighter week than the $30.9 billion Q2 pace reported here previously.

  Review

  “$1.2 billion in Series A funding” — single-sourced to Fintech Global with no second source and no [!unverified] flag, unlike other single-sourced figures in this doc — verify with a second source or add the flag.

No other SMB-relevant raises cleared the bar this week.

Regulatory & Economic Context

• Update: The tariff litigation flagged last week has escalated to a second round. Learning Resources filed a new suit in the Court of International Trade, while spice importer Burlap & Barrel and watch retailer Collective Horology filed a separate one — both represented by the Liberty Justice Center, the group that won the earlier Supreme Court case — challenging the 10–12.5% Section 301 tariffs on 60 economies that took effect July 24.

• The practical gap behind that litigation is showing up in the refund data: of the $121.75 billion in tariff refund claims CBP has accepted, only about $86.3 billion has actually been repaid, covering roughly 30% of eligible entries — with approvals skewed toward large importers like Walmart and Ford while smaller importers report struggling with the documentation the CAPE portal requires.

  Unverified

  Refund totals are drawn from secondary aggregation of CBP filings rather than a CBP release itself; worth confirming against CBP’s own reporting before next citation.

  Review

  “roughly 30% of eligible entries” — doesn’t reconcile with the brief’s own dollar figures ($86.3B / $121.75B ≈ 71%); no source found stating a 30%-of-entries figure — this looks like a dollars-vs-entry-count mismatch. Verify directly against CBP/CAPE reporting or cut this clause.

• The SBA opened a $9 million grant competition under its new Supply Chain Acceleration and Logistics Enablement (SCALE) Program, offering 20 awards of up to $500,000 to organizations that support small businesses in strategically important supply chains; applications close August 7.

Takeaway