Josh Shapiro hits Trump’s tariffs for “jacking up the price of goods and services”

Gov. Josh Shapiro took aim at President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which will cost Pennsylvania businesses up to $5.3 billion. Shapiro warns that dairy farmers and other industries could be affected. 

After signing an executive order looking to attract recently fired federal employees to work for the commonwealth, Gov. Josh Shapiro took a moment to attack President Donald Trump for levying tariffs on some of the country’s closest trading partners. 

After weeks of delay, Trump’s tariffs, which included 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff on some goods from China, went into effect on Tuesday, and it could cost Pennsylvania businesses up to $5.3 billion, according to Go Erie.  

“This guy pushed a button and jacked up the price of goods and services for the American people and shut out markets for our farmers, our small businesses and others in Pennsylvania who rely on our critical trading partners like Canada and Mexico,” Shapiro said to reporters. 

“It makes no sense. I don’t know why he did it. But we’re going to see a real effect of his policies, and the effect is going to be higher prices for Pennsylvanians.”

Shapiro warned how Pennsylvania’s dairy industry, which provides 52,000 jobs and generates $14.7 billion in revenue annually, would be one of the sectors hit hard by Trump’s tariffs. 

“Our Pennsylvania dairy farmers sell more product to Mexico than any other state,” Shapiro said. “So when you are a Pennsylvania farmer trying to sell your milk or your cheese to Mexico, as a result of the president’s tariffs, our products now cost more in Mexico, which means Mexicans are going to buy less product from Pennsylvania, or maybe no product at all because of president Trump’s tax.”

York County businesses are bracing for the effects of Trump’s tariffs. 

The York Dispatch reported that Pennsylvania imports close to $13 billion in goods annually from Canada, while exporting $10 billion to our neighbors. York County is home to 38 Canadian owned companies that employ close to 1,200 workers. 

“Central PA and Canada obviously have had a long-standing relationship of economic trade together,” Kevin Schreiber, President and CEO of the York County Economic Alliance, told the outlet. “So, obviously when the tariffs go into effect and Canada responds in kind and we’re into this trade war, it likely impacts the prices consumers are going to have to pay and impugns the ability for our businesses to do business together and be economically successful.”