Washington — Senator Patty Murray, alongside Washington state department heads, expressed concerns over President Trump’s recent tariffs on U.S. exports, warning of significant impacts on the state’s economy.
“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,” said Murray.
Murray highlighted Washington’s vulnerability as one of the most trade-dependent states in the nation. “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,” she said.
Joe Nguyễn, Director of the Washington State Department of Commerce, echoed these concerns, stating, “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.”
Rianne Ham, International Marketing Program Manager at the Washington State Department of Agriculture, added, “Exports are critical for Washington agriculture, the uncertainty around the tariffs, the retaliatory tariffs, the uncompetitive pricing, a lost market share that will result in the damage to our trade partners’ relationships is very real concern for Washington Agriculture exporters.”
Representative Dan Newhouse acknowledged the complexity of the situation, noting that while retaliatory tariffs often target agricultural products, fairness in trade is essential. “So that is a great goal, but we also don’t want to be unfairly treated by other countries that make our products unnecessarily expensive and reduce the number of exports that we can benefit from so that there’s certainly some, it’s just kind of a two-edged sword. I think you use that term. Definitely. There are some plus sides, but there’s also some things we need to watch and be careful of,” said Newhouse.
Rumors suggest a potential pause on tariffs for all countries except China, but no official announcement has been made.
Credit: Source link
