Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen
(Washington, DC) – Following President Trump’s announcement of sweeping new tariffs, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) took to the Senate floor to highlight the devastating economic impacts that President Trump’s tariffs and trade war will have on American families and the economy. The speech came ahead of a vote on U.S. Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) joint resolution with U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) to end Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Some estimates have shown that Trump’s tariffs could raise costs for the average American household by up to $2,000 per year. You can watch Senator Shaheen’s speech here.
Key quotes from Senator Shaheen:
- “On Monday I visited a bakery in Derry, New Hampshire, that may have to go out of business due to what President Trump is proposing on tariffs on Canada. […] Mr. Chatila said to me, and I quote, ‘When I came, this was the American dream, which is why we built it. But now you see it in front of your eyes. It’s just melted like ice.’”
- “Imposing tariffs against Canada is not the way to fight fentanyl and other drugs. This kind of legislation, like the HALT Fentanyl Act, is something that is going to have much more of an impact.”
- “The message to the American people from this administration is increasingly clear: they do not care about you and what your needs are.”
- “He is taxing all of the goods that people buy every day and what he doesn’t tell you is that the reason he’s doing this is so that he can give more money to provide tax cuts for the top 1% of the income earners in the country, so the billionaires.”
You can read Shaheen’s remarks as delivered below:
I came to the floor to join my colleagues because I am so concerned about the damaging impact of President Trump’s tariff taxes—and I call them taxes because that’s what they really are—about those tariffs particularly on Canada, although we heard today that he’s announced a number of others.
On Monday, I’ve been hearing from a lot of small businesses in New Hampshire, but on Monday I visited a bakery in Derry, New Hampshire, that may have to go out of business due to what President Trump is proposing on tariffs on Canada.
Now, the owner of Chatila’s Bakery moved to the United States 36 years ago.
He’s a cardiologist and with his brother, a PhD. Scientist, they’re from Lebanon.
He became a citizen.
He raised his family and sent his daughter to college, and he and his brother got interested in sugar free desserts and candies because their mother was diabetic.
So he spent the last 36 years building his business, and now he might have to sell his factory because of the trade war that President Trump has started with Canada.
Chatila’s Bakery makes sugar free desserts.
They get some of their ingredients from Canada.
All of those ingredients are now more expensive and while I was there, he showed me a fuel bill he had just gotten, that said that because of the tariffs, his fuel bill was going up.
But more important than that, 85% of his business comes from exporting to Canadian customers.
Most of his sales contracts in Canada were canceled after these tariffs went into effect last month.
So he says he’s going to lose between $400,000 and $500,000 this year in the business.
Now, President Trump says he’s worried about trade imbalances and that he wants to support exporters.
Well, here is an American small business and an exporter and because of what this president is doing with his reckless trade war, this small business owner might go out of business.
So Mr. Chatila said to me, and I quote, “When I came, this was the American dream, which is why we built it. But now you see it in front of your eyes. It’s just melted like ice.”
And I asked him what he would like to ask President Trump if he had the opportunity, and he said his question was to the president, “What do you want me to do? If you really care about your country, why don’t you support small businesses which are the backbone of every community?”
I think that said it about as well as anybody I’ve heard.
And we know, sadly, that his business is not the only one.
Many of our small businesses in New Hampshire are reliant on travel and tourism.
I’ve heard from businesses across our state about Canadian tourists canceling plans already, about bookings that they rely on that are not going to come through.
Last week, we saw that airline tickets for travelers coming from Canada this summer are down more than 70% from this time last year.
That represents lost business for my constituents and for businesses and communities across this country.
All of this will put their businesses at risk, and it will do so when they are also facing higher costs for inputs because of these tariff taxes.
Two weeks ago, I visited a bus company, runs bus lines between the seacoast of New Hampshire and Boston and New York.
They’re facing $500,000 in added costs because of these tariffs and now, on top of that, he stands to lose business because fewer people are visiting the United States—He also goes between the seacoast and Logan Airport.
All of that because the president has damaged the relationship we have with one of our closest allies.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
What is the logic of antagonizing those allies and partners that we rely on?
And lest anyone forget, the president is claiming that the flow of fentanyl from Canada justifies all this.
Well, fentanyl and other drugs are serious issues, and I’ve spent much of my time in the Senate doing what I can to help stop those drugs from entering the United States and to getting help for those who need it.
Just last month, the Senate passed the HALT Fentanyl Act, which is legislation that I co-sponsored along with a lot of my colleagues, which would permanently schedule fentanyl related substances.
Imposing tariffs against Canada is not the way to fight fentanyl and other drugs.
This kind of legislation, like the HALT Fentanyl Act, is something that is going to have much more of an impact.
CBP statistics show that all the fentanyl seized along the northern border from the beginning of 2022 until now is 71 pounds.
Now, that’s a lot of fentanyl, and that could kill a lot of people, so I don’t endorse that by any means.
But you compare that with the 67,966 pounds that have been seized along the US-Mexico border for the same period of time.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on where most of this fentanyl is coming from?
Instead of imposing tariffs, we should be working cooperatively with our allies and partners, and Canada has taken a number of steps to crack down and to stop drugs from coming into the United States.
The tariffs that are in place before today are likely to raise costs by nearly $2,000 for the average household.
That’s money many families in New Hampshire and across this country can’t afford to pay when they’re trying to cover the cost of groceries, of housing, of child care, of energy, all of those things that President Trump, when he was running for president, said he was going to address.
I’ve heard from many New Hampshire families about how these tariffs will raise prices for keeping their homes warm, for putting gas in their cars.
And now the Trump administration has reportedly fired the entire staff of the LIHEAP program that helps families and seniors heat their homes when they can’t afford to pay.
The message to the American people from this administration is increasingly clear: they do not care about you and what your needs are.
So voting for Senator Kaine’s resolution presents an opportunity for Congress to help Americans who are worried about higher costs.
I intend to vote for this resolution to end the tariffs on Canada, to lower costs for Americans and to help our small businesses and I hope all my colleagues will do the same.
Now, I just want to add that in the last hour, President Trump announced a new tax of 10% on everything Americans import with far higher taxes on many countries.
Everything from the EU will now face a 20% tax.
Japan and South Korea 25%.
I mean, again, the rationale for why we are going after our allies and partners makes no sense.
And this is a tremendous tax increase on American business and families.
Likely the largest peacetime tax increase in U.S. history.
This new Trump tariff tax will add at least another $3,000 to the costs for an average household.
And again, this president promised he was going to lower costs for families.
This does nothing to do that.
He is taxing all of the goods that people buy every day and what he doesn’t tell you is that the reason he’s doing this is so that he can give more money to provide tax cuts for the top 1% of the income earners in the country, so the billionaires.
I don’t think this tax increase is going to help the small business owner I visited on Monday, or the families in my state and across this country who are trying to afford groceries, and I intend to vote to end those tariffs on Canada today when I have the opportunity.
I hope my colleagues will join me.
Thank you.
Senator Shaheen is leading efforts in Congress to mitigate the harmful impacts of President Trump’s tariffs. Earlier today, Shaheen released a statement condemning President Trump’s announcement that he will impose 10 percent tariffs on all imported goods, with far higher taxes on many more countries at midnight. In January, Shaheen introduced the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes on Imported Goods Act which would limit the president’s ability to leverage sweeping tariffs that increase costs for American consumers and families. Her effort to pass this bill by unanimous consent was blocked by Senate Republicans. In recent weeks, Shaheen has traveled across the Granite State to visit businesses including Chatila’s Bakery, C&J, DCI Furniture, Mount Cabot Maple and American Calan Inc. to hear directly from Granite Staters impacted by the looming tariffs.