Protestors to Lawmakers; Hburg Responds to Canada/Mexico Tariffs
Today, President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff on China.
All three nations have announced retaliatory tariffs in response.
Pennsylvania exported around $53.2 billion in goods last year. According to a report from Lending Tree, over 27% of those exports went to Canada and 10% went to Mexico. In turn, 12% of its imported goods came from Canada and 6% from Mexico.
From protestors to lawmakers, Harrisburg players had a wide range in response to the international changes.
“He’s doing it to get policy initiatives out of those other countries. He's concerned about the fentanyl— we should be concerned about the fentanyl that's coming over the border, the northern border and the southern border,” Rep. Joshua Kail said, a co-chair of the Pennsylvania Economic Competitiveness Caucus.
Kail also supports the theory that tariffs will lead to more investment in American companies.
“That doesn't mean there won't be an immediate impact, but in the long term, it's about protecting American industry, the American worker, and keeping our streets safe,” Kail said.
For protestors on the capitol steps today, the tariff move is one more frustration on a pile of grievances they have with the president.
“It's plain stupidity to think that you can tariff another country, especially Canada or Mexico, who, by the way, we get a lot of our goods from,” Cindy Rusnak said, a protestor and retired nurse. "They accept a lot of our stuff putting tariffs on them. What's going to happen to us? Common sense. The prices are going to go up.”
Hundreds of people part of the 50/50/1 move rallied in Harrisburg today ahead of Trump’s first joint congressional address of his second term.
“Eggs? That’ gonna be the least of your worries,” Beth said, another protestor.
During his campaign, tariffs had mixed popularity and disapproval among voters. Trump’s approval rating dropped the first week after his inauguration and has stayed mostly steady through February. The only topic he is winning approval on in real clear politics polling is immigration.
“The problem that we've seen with presidents is they over read their mandates and they assume that people want them to do everything,” Berwood Yost said, director at Franklin & Marshall College Polling, “When in fact they've got a specific set of things they can do.”