What to Know
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a sweeping anti-tariff campaign on Monday, putting it at odds with the White House
- $2.6 billion in tri-state exports would be threatened by a trade war with Canada, the Chamber said
- President Trump has said he wants to delay a new trade deal with Canada until after the November elections
A trade war threatens more than $2.6 billion in exports from the tri-state -- everything from soap and orange juice to aluminum plates and herbicide, according to a new anti-tariff campaign from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The campaign, launched Monday, is an aggressive effort by the pro-business (and typically pro-GOP) group to combat what it calls "nothing more than a tax increase on American consumers and businesses.
"This is the wrong approach, and it threatens to derail our nation’s recent economic resurgence," the Chamber said.
Canada announced nearly $13 billion in new tariffs on U.S. goods last Friday, a response to the U.S. government imposing new levies on steel and aluminum imports.
New York would be hardest hit in the region by retaliatory Canadian tariffs, the report said, with $1.6 billion in exports described as being "threatened by a trade war." At highest risk would be aluminum alloy rectangular plates, with annual exports to Canada in excess of $500 million.
The impact on New Jersey would be roughly $920 million, with the biggest impacts on herbicides and orange juice. Connecticut would take a $134 million hit, primarily for soap exports.
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Across the three states, the Chamber said 4.4 million jobs in total were supported in some fashion by global trade.
President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News aired Sunday morning, said he wasn't happen with the state of talks to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and that he wanted to put off any deal with Mexico and Canada until after U.S. elections this November.
