1 week Ago
Donald Trump won the presidency by, in part, promising to lower prices for you and me. So why did he just slap a massive tariff on practically everything you buy? And why did his tariff announcement lead to one of the biggest market crashes since the eighties?The simple answer is that the tariffs Trump announced are not going to be paid by our trade competitors. They’re going to be paid by you.
Gov. Ned Lamont recently called these new Trump tariffs a “six-letter word for tax.” He’s absolutely right.
And unless you’re on the payroll at Mar-a-Lago, you should be mad about it.On April 2 — what the president bizarrely dubbed “Liberation Day” — the Trump administration slapped a 25% tariff on imported aluminum and steel, and imposed sweeping duties on goods from major allies like South Korea, Canada, and the EU. The average U.
S. tariff is now projected to rise from 2.5% to nearly 22%, the highest level since 1909.
Governor Lamont summed it up perfectly: “The only thing that’s being liberated is your wallet.”Tariffs, when used smartly, can protect American industries. President Biden’s 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles? That makes sense — it protects our domestic auto sector from being wiped out by artificially cheap competition.
But that’s not what this is. These are broad, blunt, and blundering taxes on goods we don’t even have the capacity to make here — and they’re going to squeeze Connecticut families.Let’s start with the basics: we don’t grow bananas, coffee, or cocoa in Connecticut.
But we import all three — and now, thanks to these tariffs, you’ll be paying more for them. These aren’t luxury goods. They’re the staples in your grocery cart on a Tuesday.
They’re the fruit in your kid’s lunchbox. They’re the coffee in your Dunkin’ cup as you drive on I-84. Connecticut and American families don’t have the option to grow tropical fruit or harvest beans — we rely on global trade for that.
And now we’re being taxed for it.Even industries where we make things are going to take a hit. Remember the last round of Trump tariffs in 2018? Steel and aluminum duties drove up costs for manufacturers in New London, Groton, and across the state.
Companies like Electric Boat — which builds submarines in Groton — depend on high-quality specialty metals that we don’t make in the U.S. In fact, the only source for a crucial steel (HY-80)used in U.
S. submarine construction is the United Kingdom. Those tariffs raised costs on critical defense equipment and made Connecticut-made goods less competitive.
Manufacturing is a huge part of our economy. Connecticut’s manufacturing sector supports over 134,000 jobs, and our aerospace and defense output ranks third nationally, totaling nearly $70 billion annually. These tariffs jeopardize that.
And if you like beer, I have bad news for you.Connecticut has 125 craft breweries, many of which rely on imported aluminum cans to package their products. When Trump imposed aluminum tariffs in 2018, costs jumped.
Breweries either ate the cost or passed it on to you. Now, with another 25% tariff on aluminum, guess what? The price of your six-pack is going up again.Even Guinness is under threat, with proposed tariffs as high as 200% on European alcohol.
If you thought $8 for a pint was steep, imagine it at $16. Splitting the G just got a lot more expensive!And it’s not just booze – your whole grocery bill is about to skyrocket. The U.
S. imports over 55% of its fresh vegetables and 59% of its fresh fruit, including essentials like berries, tomatoes, and peppers — things grown in Mexico and Canada and eaten by basically everyone in Connecticut. Trump’s tariffs will raise prices on all of them.
The average family will pay $3,800 more per year under these tariffs, according to research by the Yale Budget Lab. That’s real money — a mortgage payment, a semester of community college, a couple months of groceries.It’s also worth remembering that Connecticut farmers and food exporters have already felt this pain.
In 2018, Connecticut dairy farms received just $121,798 in federal aid to offset massive price declines caused by retaliatory tariffs. Meanwhile, Garbo Lobster in Groton — once one of the largest lobster exporters in North America — lost its Chinese market entirely after China imposed tariffs in response to Trump’s trade war. They shut down, jobs were lost, and the damage was done.
Trump is trying to tax the dairy farms of the Quiet Corner and the seafood exporters on our shoreline out of business.Donald Trump is punishing American workers and American manufacturers. They aren’t targeting real unfair trade practices.
They’re just quietly hiking the prices of everyday goods — beer, groceries, cars — and calling it patriotism.They should be repealed immediately. And our leaders in Connecticut should be shouting about it.
Governor Lamont already is. He recently warned that Trump’s tariffs would cost Connecticut businesses another $5 billion on top of what they’ve already lost.This isn’t the Art of the Deal.
It’s the Art of the Raw Deal — and we’re all stuck paying the bill. Call it whatever you want. At the register, it’s just a tax.
Kevin Kurian is a Connecticut native and a student at Harvard Law School..
