Source: US State of New York
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” with Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez.
AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Symone Sanders Townsend, MSNBC: Well, President Donald Trump just defended his tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, saying online in part, quote, “Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe, and maybe not, but we will make America great again, and it will be all worth the price that must be paid.” Joining us now to discuss is New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Michael Steele, MSNBC: Welcome, Governor. That tweet is the musings of a man who has no clue the impact of what he just did. Let’s take, for example, in 2022, total New York-Canada trade increased to $42.6 billion. As we can show on the graph, this rise was comprised of a 19 percent increase in exports and a 28 percent rise in imports.
The states are the ones that will carry the burden of his illiberal, unhinged reaction to whatever — we don’t know. But he somehow thinks that this is a public policy of engaging a tariff war that, somehow, a state like yours is going to be immune from. Talk to us about what this means and Canada’s response potentially to the citizens of your state.
Governor Hochul: Well, we’re deeply concerned about this. We have a strong trade arrangement, and they’ve been partners of ours since the beginning of our country. New York State has one of the largest borders with any country in the world because, you know, we have the water line — the water and land crossings.
But, there’s a synergy between our two communities. Canada and New York State are really– it’s like all part of one region, and we have a lot of trade between us, and it’s critically important for our farmers, and our manufacturers, and all the areas we produce materials that Canada needs that we get that across the border with ease.
Now, Canada — and this is not a surprise — is already talking about retaliatory tariffs on our products. So, our businesses are going to feel it immediately. And also just, why are we doing this? New York State is the economic engine of the country. When you do something that hurts New York — because we are in such close proximity to Canada — it’s going to have a ripple effect across the country, and I’m concerned about that.
So, if this is a temporary measure to get the attention of the other countries — Mexico and Canada, in particular — to talk about fentanyl coming across the border, we’ll continue focusing on that; I’m putting more money on the border to stop that as well, right here in the State of New York. But this is going to be an additional tax on New York residents and American residents overall, and I don’t see a way around that. This is what we’re facing right now.
In a time when I’m working so hard to put money back in New Yorkers pockets, an additional $1,300, $1,400 a year is going to take that money right back out. So consumers are the ones who are going to bear the brunt of this, and that’s what concerns me so much.
Alicia Menendez, MSNBC: You know, Governor, during the past presidential campaign, there were so many Democrats who tried to make it clear that even if you live in a Democratic state, even if you live in a blue state, you would be impacted by some of the proposed changes from this Republican party, from Donald Trump.
We’re now seeing that play out in real time when it comes to abortion access. This, from the Washington Post, you have a New York doctor who’s been charged with prescribing abortion pills to a Louisiana girl. The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
You have said you would never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over to the State of Louisiana under any extradition request. What other mechanisms are available to you to protect health care workers in New York?
Governor Hochul: I will protect this doctor and all health care workers because this is the continued collateral damage of the overturning of Roe v. Wade that we saw at that moment and we sound the alarms about it, but, sadly, this is the law right now where it’s left to individual states. But, I have to protect my doctors, and my doctors have a right to prescribe FDA-approved medication via telehealth. And for having a doctor in the State of New York who simply answered the call of a mother who wanted to get this prescription filled legally and now to be facing jail time and conviction as a, you know, an accomplice to murder here — where has this country gone? It feels like we’ve lost our minds.
We’re now penalizing doctors who are trying to do what they can in a state like Louisiana that has 60 percent higher maternal mortality rates — sometimes, these medication-assisted abortions can be life saving for someone who’s having complications. My gosh, what has this country come to? So I will continue to stand up strongly to support women’s rights to abortion. This is my mother’s generation’s fight. It’s something we all took for granted, and it’s not there for my daughter — and it better be back in place for my granddaughter. These are the values we espouse in New York, and I will protect this doctor.
I will never, ever sign an extradition agreement to send this doctor into harm’s way to be prosecuted as a criminal for simply following her oath.
Symone Sanders Townsend, MSNBC: Governor Hochul, can we turn to talk about immigration? New York State has literally been in the, I would argue, the top of mind for some Trump administration officials. We have this from our colleague Jonathan Allen on Friday. U. S. President Donald Trump’s new Homeland Security Secretary made sure cameras were rolling when she joined federal agents to arrest migrants in New York City. Secretary Kristi Noem said the publicity created around the arrest was to show that the new administration was taking a different, tougher approach.
What are your thoughts about these stunts is what it looks like, because if you look at the numbers, actually, the Trump administration– these raids aren’t necessarily new, they’re just bringing cameras and the secretaries to execute what ICE had been doing even when President Biden was in office. So I just, your reaction to the target that is on, essentially the backs of people who are migrants in this country, undocumented, but also people who are American citizens who are also being swept up into some of these rates.
Governor Hochul: That’s right, that’s right. So let’s level-set here. ICE has come into the State of New York for many years, whether it’s someone who’s already served time in a prison and they were being removed back to their country if they’ve been convicted of a crime here; if they have a warrant for an arrest, there is cooperation from state and local officials — that is nothing new. So, there’s a lot of drama around this, but I have to make sure that yes, we keep our streets safe, that we remove the gangs that have been terrorizing some of our neighborhoods — yes, that is critically important; I’ll support anyone who can do that. But, we will not let people get swept up into raids when they are simply here trying to earn a living.
What I wanted to do? I want to put people to work. I have 400,000 open jobs in the State of New York at all levels. I have a database with 52,000 jobs of people who said if we can get migrants work authorization, which I desperately need from the federal government, that it’s a whole new ballgame — they’ll hire them. So, this is good for our economy if we can take the people who’ve already come here. And again, our borders are too fluid, they were too open. I believe that we need a strong national immigration policy like the kind I worked on when I was a Staffer for Senator Moynihan and Ronald Reagan, work with Democrats.
I still have hope that there can be a bipartisan approach to dealing with this and have our borders protected, but let’s deal with what has happened already. We have people who are in our communities and children are not going to school now because they’re afraid of their parents being swept up if they pick them up.
And people are cowering in church basements. This is the State of New York. We’re not going to let this happen here. We will work with law enforcement. We’ll make sure that the criminal element is gone, we all want them gone, but we also have a place in our State and we can take care of people who’ve already been here, who are already contributing to our tax base.
They’re doing jobs that so many others didn’t want to do, so let’s recognize that as well.
Symone Sanders Townsend, MSNBC: Governor Kathy Hochul, thank you very much for your time this morning.
MIL OSI USA News –
