Buffalo News - Schumer: Trump’s Tariffs Are A Dagger To The Heart Of Western NY
Date: April 1, 2025
President Trump is calling April 2nd, the day he plans to enact his broad and disruptive reciprocal tariffs, “Liberation Day” the start of his Golden Age.
That Golden Age for America can be summarized in two words: higher prices.
Plain and simple, Trump’s tariffs are a tax increase on Western NY. The average family in Buffalo could see their costs of groceries, gas, and goods skyrocket by over $6,000 per year in higher prices.
President Trump has said straight up that he doesn’t care if prices go up.
Well, I do.
The Trump tariffs against an ally like Canada are disastrous and will make the lives of working families in Western NY worse off. That is unacceptable.
Trump’s flip flopping on his ill-timed trade war has created chaos. One day, he is jacking up tariffs, the next, he is calling off his own proposal. This head-snapping uncertainty is causing the stock market to fall, hurting Western NY seniors’ retirements.
Families know that tariffs increase costs and it’s causing consumer confidence to crater. Businesses don’t feel safe making investments, and economists are worried that if this continues, it could lead to a recession.
This chaotic approach is playing Russian roulette with the lives and household budgets of Western New Yorkers.
We are already seeing this play out as Western New York farms and factories scramble. I get calls from small businesses in Western NY every day, scared they will need to close or lay off employees if these tariffs go through.
Tariffs are slowing sales, and tourism from Canada is down. Cross-border commerce is the bedrock of Western NY’s economy. Every year, millions of Canadians shop at our businesses downtown, eat at our restaurants, stay at our hotels, and more.
If this tariff war continues, it could devastate cross-border tourism and commerce in ways we haven’t seen since the height of the pandemic. The New York Times estimates that the impacts from Trump’s trade war could directly hit over 30,000 jobs in Western NY, blowing a hole in the region’s economy.
Canada is our neighbor, our biggest trading partner, and closest ally, with $2.5 billion in goods crossing the border every day. Over 680,000 New York jobs are dependent on our trade with Canada. Western NY alone does $30 billion of trade with Canada.
Western New Yorkers are proud of being home to this major national hub for international business, symbolized by the Peace Bridge and Lewiston-Queenston Bridge. 70% of all Canadian imports to the U.S. are used to manufacture American-made products, including right here in Western NY.
Western NY breweries rely on Canadian-grown barley, their cans are made from Canadian aluminum. Buffalo manufacturers, like the small business Rigidized Metals, rely on raw products from Canada.
Construction of more housing to lower housing costs in Buffalo could come to a screeching halt because nearly all rely on Canadian lumber and other materials, and these tariffs would cause their costs to surge.
I am all for addressing trade imbalances. In fact, Trump should be spending far more time going after China’s long-standing trade cheating that has robbed Upstate NY of jobs for far too long, rather than picking a trade war with Canada that will only cost more NY jobs and drive up prices for everyone.
Congressional Republicans in NY must make a choice: either side with Upstate NY families, businesses, and farmers or with Trump’s destructive tariffs.
This week, under my leadership, the Senate will vote on a resolution to stop Trump’s un-strategic and counter-productive tariff war with Canada. It is time to end this senseless job-killing, cost-increasing tax on Western New Yorkers once and for all.
###