Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
Murray: “I’m calling on my Republican colleagues to help us, stop letting Trump tank the economy and raise prices, vote with us to reverse these pointless and destructive tariffs… Already, the chaos and uncertainty these tariffs have created are pushing us toward a Republican recession.”
Washington state is one of the most trade-dependent states in the U.S., with 40 percent of WA jobs tied to international commerce; A recent analysis from Yale Budget lab found Trump’s tariffs could raise costs on the average American household by $4,000 a year
***WATCH HERE, DOWNLOAD VIDEO HERE; AUDIO HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Today,U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a virtual press conference with Washington Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn, Washington Council on International Trade President Lorri Otto Punke, Washington State Department of Agriculture International Marketing Program Manager Rianne Ham, and Blas Alfaro, co-owner of Fulcrum Coffee Roasters in Seattle. Senator Murray and the other speakers highlighted how the reckless, sweeping new tariffs President Trump announced last week—a significant escalation in Trump’s ongoing trade war—will raise costs for families everywhere and be devastating for Washington state’s economy, businesses, and our agriculture sector. A recent analysis found that Trump’s tariffs could raise costs on the average American household by $4,000 a year—and these price hikes on working families are coming at the very same time that Republicans are forcing massive new tax cuts for billionaires through Congress.
Last Wednesday, President Trump declared new tariffs on a wide range of imports, targeting key sectors including agriculture, electronics, and automobiles. This included a new, 10 percent baseline tariff on all imported goods—which went into effect on Saturday—as well as country-specific reciprocal tariffs, which will take effect tomorrow, April 9th. These tariffs come on top of the 25 percent tariffs President Trump imposed in February on most imports from Canada, Mexico, and 10 percent tariffs on China. Canada is Washington’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly $20 billion in imports and $10 billion in exports—and Trump’s pointless trade war with Canada is already hurting businesses of all sizes in Washington state. On the heels of Trump’s tariff announcement, JP Morgan raised its prediction of the probability of a US recession to 60 percent.
Washington state has one of the most trade-dependent economies of any state in the country, with 40 percent of jobs tied to international commerce. Washington state is the top U.S. producer of apples, blueberries, hops, pears, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries—all of which risk losing vital export markets due to retaliatory tariffs from key trading partners including Canada. Additionally, more than 12,000 small and medium-sized companies in Washington state export goods and will be unlikely to be able to absorb the impact of retaliatory tariffs. Trump’s tariffs during his first term were extremely costly for Washington state—for example, India imposed a 20 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. apples, causing Washington apple shipments to India to fall by 99 percent and growers to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in exports.
“Families are going to feel the pain of Trump’s new tariffs everywhere they shop. And, as one of the most trade-dependent states in the country, Washington state stands to lose among the most from Trump’s destructive trade war. Two in five jobs in our state exist because of international trade—that’s a full 40 percent of jobs in our state. Farmers, fishers, producers in our state—rely heavily on trade with Canada and Mexico, and Trump’s trade war has already been an especially deep cut for them. Now, they’re about to get hammered even more,” said Senator Murray on the press call today. “Already, the chaos and uncertainty these tariffs have created are pushing us toward a Republican recession… But here’s the thing you all need to know: Congress can actually reverse these tariffs. Last week in fact, the Senate voted on a resolution to reverse Trump’s tariffs on Canada by ending the bogus emergency declaration President Trump issued to justify them. That resolution passed the Senate—with four Republican votes—but right now, it’s dead in the water unless Speaker Johnson brings it up for the vote in the House.”
“Working families are already having a hard enough time navigating the rising costs because of these Trump tariffs. Their stock portfolios, their 401Ks are tanking because of these Trump tariffs as well, and they’re trying to figure out what’s happening next,” said Joe Nguyễn, Director of the Washington State Department of Commerce. “These are disruptive. They disrupt people’s lives, they disrupt their jobs, they disrupt industries like Boeing, our shipping terminals, our farmers, our tech companies—all of this is on the line. And I also want to be very clear about what’s at stake: affordability, stability, and opportunity in every corner of our state is being jeopardized by this manufactured crisis.”
“Trade equals jobs in Washington state. And as we know, 40 percent to jobs in this state are tied to international trade. We are proud of our diversity of exports—everything from aerospace to agriculture to clean tech to forest products to life sciences marine, and the military. And Washington state also facilitates trade and exports around the country. More than 50 percent of all U.S. wheat travels through our Columbia River system,” said Lori Otto Punke, President of the Washington Council on International Trade. “We have the 10th-largest economy in the U.S… we’re very deeply concerned about the impacts that these aggressive unilateral tariff actions will have, here locally. And we also know from the last almost-decade that tariff policy has already negatively impacted Washington state… [Tariffs] have failed to achieve the goals that they were meant to do, while imposing a lot of costs and many lost opportunities… What we’re talking about from a tariff perspective now is nowhere close—you know, it’s huge, compared to what we’ve seen in the past. And from a broad historical context, in 2015, Washington state exports [were] approximately, nearly 90 billion dollars in goods. And this made us one of the top exporting states in the country. But after… nearly a decade of tariff policy, in 2023, a lot of our goods and services were down about a third of that, down to about $60 billion dollars. So as we know, there are negative impacts of tariffs already, we’ve already seen that, and this huge magnification of tariffs is really detrimental.”
“Exports are critically important to Washington’s agriculture economy. The uncertainty around retaliatory tariffs, the uncompetitive prices and lost market share that may result where implemented, and the damage to relationships with trading partners are some of the areas of concern for Washington agriculture exporters at this time,” said Rianne Ham, International Marketing Program Manager at the Washington State Department of Agriculture. “We’ve been through this before. A few years ago, we did face a number of retaliatory tariffs from the past Trump administration, some of those are still in effect. We do know that those retaliatory tariffs did raise prices on our agriculture products, they did make our products more expensive for consumers, and they did result in lost market share.”
“Green coffee prices have risen by up to 40 percent over the past year. This isn’t just inflation—it’s a result of global challenges: climate change disrupting crops, labor shortages in producing countries, increased demand from growing economies, and declining output from some of the world’s largest producers, including Vietnam and Indonesia. And now, with the April 2 tariff implementation, that pressure is increasing,” said Blas Alfaro, Partner & Senior Vice President at Fulcrum Coffee Roasters in Seattle. “Here’s what that looks like: a 10 percent base tariff on all imported green coffee, a 46 percent tariff on coffee from Vietnam, which represents 20 percent of U.S. imports, and a 30 percent tariff on Indonesian coffee, a country known for unique flavor profiles that simply cannot be substituted. This affects not just roasters, but the thousands of local, independent cafés we serve—many of them drive-thru espresso stands and family-run shops in small towns. These businesses employ baristas and support staff, serve as cultural and social gathering spaces, and actively reinvest in their communities. But their margins are thin. Tariffs like these force them to make tough decisions: raise prices, reduce hours, or close altogether. The impact goes beyond the beans. Espresso machines, mostly manufactured in Italy, now face a 30 percent import tariff. Packaging materials—cups, bags, lids—are also affected. The full cost of doing business is rising rapidly, and small operators are being hit the hardest.”
Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered on today’s press call are below and video is HERE:
“First of all, thank you to all of my great guests for being on this today, for bringing your expertise to this conversation—and thank you, to all of you who have joined us for this really important call today.
“As we all know, last week President Trump held a press conference in the Rose Garden to celebrate—yea, he did say celebrate—his new taxes on everyone. And I have to say, the alternative reality Trump and his advisors have been spinning could not be more different from whatI’m hearing from folks at home who are already being crushed by Trump’s tariffs—and are about to see their prices go up even more.
“So, today I wanted to paint a better picture for all of us of what Trump’s ham-fisted, utterly pointless tariffs are actually going to mean for people in Washington state.
“For businesses, like Fulcrum Coffee Roasters in Seattle. For our farmers, for our fishers, for our growers, for housing developers, who are going to face rising costs for the raw materials it takes to build—and that will ultimately raise the cost of housing for everyone.
“And for families in every part of our state who are deeply worried about how Trump’s tariffs are going to raise prices everywhere they shop.
“No matter how much Trump tries to deny this simple fact—tariffs are a tax that the American people will pay on everything they buy.
“There’s a brand-new analysis from the Yale Budget Lab that found that Trump’s tariffs are going to cost the average family nearly $4,000 per year. That is the largest middle-class tax increase in a generation!
“Now that extra tax might not matter much to billionaires like Trump and Elon Musk, who do not even shop for themselves or even think about basic necessities—but you can bet it is going to matter to regular people in Washington state. Families are going to feel the pain of Trump’s new tariffs everywhere they shop.
“And—as one of the most trade-dependent states in the country—Washington state stands to lose among the most from Trump’s destructive trade war.
“Two in five jobs in our state exist because of international trade—that’s a full 40 percent of jobs in our state. Farmers, fishers, producers in our state—rely heavily on trade with Canada and Mexico, and Trump’s trade war has already been an especially deep cut for them. Now, they’re about to get hammered even more.
“Last year, Washington state imported 17.8 billion of goods from Canada alone—everything from natural gas for folks to heat their homes, cars, seafood that you buy at the grocery store, fertilizer that our farmers rely on. All of that is now getting more expensive because of Trump’s tariffs.
“Canada is also our second-largest export market—behind only China, which just got slapped with a 54 percent tariff they’re promising to retaliate heavily against. Well at least that was the plan last week, this week its 104 percent—and who knows what is next!?
“I’ve talked to so many farmers in our state who are furious that Donald Trump cannot seem to grasp the basic fact that they actually rely on international markets.
“Last month, Trump posted on Truth Social, and I’m going to quote it, ‘Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold inside of the United States… Have fun!’
“Have fun?! Many of our state’s top commodities export up to 90 percent of their crops. Producers are panicking right now! And Trump doesn’t seem to have a clue.
“He just slapped 24 percent tariffs on Japan, which is the largest export market for Washington potatoes. Now, potato growers have been worried that they’re going to lose access to Japan’s market over retaliatory tariffs—and theyalreadylost access to China’s market in Trump’s first-term trade war. Our Ports are concerned that countries will start bypassing U.S. ports altogether, offloading their goods in Vancouver where it is cheaper. Business in Northern Washington, especially Whatcom County, is already cratering from Trump’s pointless trade war with Canada. The City of Blaine saw about a 40 percent drop in retail and services revenue after Trump’s tariffs on Canada went into effect!
“As we know, the stock market is cratering right now and taking so many Americans’ hard-earned retirement savings with it. Stocks fell 10 percent over the week—and they keep dropping! And what was Trump doing while the Dow Jones was plummeting and Americans were panicking? He was golfing!
“So, it’s already clear on Wall Street and Main Street alike that Trump’s tariffs will be devastating—and it’s also pretty clear he doesn’t care. Trump and his advisors might try to pretend that someone else, some other country, is going to pay these taxes—but even they know that’s not true!
“Does anyone remember how Trump said Mexico would pay for the border wall?! He is selling snake oil.
“Trump actually admitted to NBC that he ‘couldn’t care less if automakers raised prices because of his tariffs.’
“And the irony is rich. Because, at the very same time that Trump is slapping new taxes on the goods that middle class families buy every day. At the very same time that Trump and Musk are insisting that we cannot afford to fund cancer research—or keep Social Security staff to answer Americans’ phone calls.
“Trump’s top priority for Congress is making sure Republicans move full steam ahead to pass massive new tax cuts for billionaires.
“And let’s be clear, Republicans’ tax breaks for billionaires are going to blow up the deficit—they will not be paid for. But guess how Republicans are choosing to try and offset some of the cost of those tax cuts? By slashing Medicaid and nutrition programs that feed hungry kids and families.
“So, to recap: Trump is gutting services and raising costs on you by thousands of dollars a year with his tariffs—while, at the same time cutting taxes for himself and other billionaires like Elon Musk.
“That’s Republican plan, if you’re a billionaire, you get showered with new tax breaks. If you’re a working family, you just get screwed—with new tax hikes and cuts to your health care. Already the chaos and uncertainty these tariffs have created are pushing us toward a Republican recession.
“But here’s the thing you all need to know: Congress can actually reverse these tariffs. Last week in fact, the Senate voted on a resolution to reverse Trump’s tariffs on Canada by ending the bogus emergency declaration President Trump issued to justify them. That resolution passed the Senate—with four Republican votes—but right now, it’s dead in the water unless Speaker Johnson brings it up for the vote in the House.
“So, right now I’m calling on my Republican colleagues to help us, stop letting Trump tank the economy and raise prices, vote with us to reverse these pointless and destructive tariffs. We could end this chaos today if Republicans would put their checkbook ahead of Donald Trump’s ego.
“So, let’s be clear: any Republican who refuses to join us is joining Trump in raising prices on you, and wrecking our economy.
“So I am delighted today to have four really great people who can lay out the basic facts, and the cold, hard reality of tariffs and what they mean for people here in Washington state and to our economy.
“So let me turn it over first to Director Nguyen.”