Op-Ed: Trump tariffs are costing Western New York

If you’ve visited our busier commercial areas in Western New York these past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed far fewer Ontario license plates than usual. And if you’ve been following the national news, you already know that it’s a result of Donald Trump’s months-long will-he, won’t-he dance with tariffs he has finally settled on imposing on Canada.

Since imposing the first of the tariffs two months ago, the president has since walked back and reimposed tariffs several times over before recently imposing tariffs on nearly every nation around the world. Even setting aside the fact that economists have questioned the strategy and effectiveness of this plan, our economy is reeling. The chaos and uncertainty have created an environment in which it is impossible for businesses to plan for the future – who knows what imports will be subject to tariffs in one year, six months, or even next week?

Business owners and corporations on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border have expressed their concern with the implications these tariffs might have on our economies, which are intertwined and, in many ways, dependent on one another. I share their concern, as do many of my colleagues in government.

Canada is New York’s biggest trade partner. We export more than $19 billion in goods and services to our neighbors to the north year in and year out. This unnecessary trade war with Canada is already beginning to affect our state’s economy. In New York, 700,000 jobs rely on trade with Canada. In Western New York, our relationship with Southern Ontario is an integral part of our economic identity. Canadians make up a large part of our tourism economy. For decades, they have visited Buffalo and Western New York to attend sporting events, visit our museums, and enjoy our many other cultural offerings. Millions of Canadians visit Erie and Niagara counties to shop each year; their annual impact has been measured at nearly $1 billion for our region.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have urged President Trump to walk back these tariffs and focus on one of his campaign promises: to lower costs. Instead, he has prioritized this manic tariff plan that is already resulting in retaliatory tariffs and costs being passed on to American consumers.

The president claims that these tariffs are put in place to protect American jobs. If he wants to build our local economy, he should begin by investing in our communities. Instead, President Trump continues to meddle in major investments made by the Biden administration, including the CHIPS Act, which would be transformative for New York state and boost our standing in a field in which the U.S. is lagging behind.

As this continued game of global one-upsmanship drags on, our economy is in danger of a total collapse. The president’s focus should be on taking constructive action to actually protect the American people, our economy, and our jobs.