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Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs joined democratic state
treasurers from around the country to denounce the Trump
Administrations tariffs.
“We’re going to see higher prices on a wide range of products,
vegetables, meat, cellphones, cars, gasoline as well,” said
Frerichs. “All of it is a Trump tax on American workers. If
you're already struggling, this will add to your financial
burden.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently acknowledged to NBC
that foreign goods may get a little more expensive, but American
goods are going to get cheaper.
Trump said high tariffs and low interest rates can pay down the
federal debt while boosting domestic manufacturers and enticing
foreign producers to move to the U.S.
“We’re going to take in hundreds of millions of dollars in
tariffs, and we’re going to become so rich you're not going to
know where to spend all that money,” said Trump on Air Force One
on Sunday.
Trump imposed new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada
last week, but then exempted many of those goods just two days
later.
Frerichs said Trump is playing the role of Lucy, yanking away
the football and leaving Charlie Brown on his back.
“This is not a way to run a business and certainly not a way to
run a country,” said Frerichs. “Constantly moving the goalposts
on tariffs creates uncertainty and instability.”
Trump has accused China, Mexico and Canada of not doing enough
to end the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the U.S. The
three countries have rejected the accusations.
The Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) is calling on Trump to honor the
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and to find other
methods to combat illegal drugs and secure our border.
“We remain deeply concerned with the use of tariffs and their
potential to spark retaliation on America’s farmers. Illinois
farmers’ products, from grains and feed, corn, soybeans,
ethanol, beef, pork, and more, rely on access to foreign markets
and will undoubtedly be impacted by these new tariffs either
through increased prices or decreased market access,” said IFB
President Brian Duncan in a statement.
Illinois is the third largest exporter of agricultural
commodities in the U.S. Total exports from Illinois in 2023 were
estimated at $81 billion, of which $13.7 billion was attributed
to agriculture. |
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