Eight Months Into Trump’s Liberation Day Tariffs, WA Business Are Not “Winning”
VIDEO BELOW: Hear how local apparel, wine, coffee, and manufacturing businesses are navigating the uncertainty of constantly changing tariff policies
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In April, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined nine local business owners at the Port of Seattle to push back against the Trump administration’s short-sighted tariff policies. Eight months later, many of those same local businesses are not seeing the wins President Donald Trump promised.
VIDEO: Barry Barr, Founder and CEO of KAVU, a Seattle-based outdoor apparel manufacturer: “I might be put out of business due to…these tariffs. The extra tariffs add onto the cost of a product to where it makes it almost not feasible for an end consumer to buy it. That’s what’s going to happen and the customers, the middle-income customers or lower are just going to get priced out of everything. It’s going to have to go to potentially layoffs just because you don’t have enough money in the company because it’s all getting taken out into your extra cost of goods through the increased tariffs…If the tariffs went away, it would be ecstatic for the entire --- for everyone. I mean, I’d see light at the end of the tunnel. I would be stoked. We could invest into our future, knowing, and really be competitive in the market.”
VIDEO: Gordon Bluechel, CEO of Access Laser, an Everett manufacturer of longwave and midwave infrared lasers used in semiconductor manufacturing and medical applications like breast cancer detection: “American businesses, in order to be competitive, they need to have the access to the same prices that people are getting around the world. And if we're cut out of those markets because we're raising our tariffs, that hurts American competitiveness.”
VIDEO: Bob Gundram, CEO of C3 – the U.S. Distributor for CAPiTA Snowboards, Union Binding Company, and COAL Headwear based in Ballard: “Now it's just a blanket tariff across the board, and it's really for certain products. It's changed the pricing significantly for the ultimately, for the consumer, and so the consumer is going to be paying, unfortunately. I mean, we're all consumers, but we're paying the price.”
VIDEO: Chris Stone, Deputy Director of the Washington State Wine Commission: “As of today, there's still no U.S. products on any store shelves in Canada, in the government-controlled, monopoly-run states… Livelihoods are at stake, and family farms are at stake. I mean, it's no joke…The last thing we need is these tariff threats, the real tariffs, and then the continued uncertainty around what is going to look like next month, or in two months, or in six months, and we have to make plans.”
Blas Alfaro, Senior VP of Fulcrum Coffee Roasters -- with café locations in Mountlake Terrace, Belltown, and SODO: “At Fulcrum, we have always reinvested back into our city—working with Intentionalist, collaborating with Goodwill to build job training programs, creating opportunities particularly for minority-owned cafés. But we have had to pause or scale back several of those projects because the financial pressure is too great…Unfortunately, the latest changes haven’t helped — Brazil, our major green coffee supplier, will still be facing a 40% tariff, which puts significant pressure on our operations and on many others in our industry.”
Immediately following President Trump’s April 2nd ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, Senators Cantwell and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the bipartisan Trade Review Act to reaffirm Congress’ key role in setting and approving U.S. trade policy. The Trade Review Act of 2025, modeled after the War Powers Resolution of 1973, would reestablish limits on the president’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs without the approval of Congress. The Trade Review Act of 2025 has considerable bipartisan support, including seven Republicans and seven Democrats. A bipartisan companion bill to Cantwell’s legislation has also been introduced in the House of Representatives.
Last month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organization, endorsed Sen. Cantwell’s legislation and the National Taxpayers Union included the Trade Review Act in their Top 10 Bipartisan Bills for Taxpayers “No Brainer” list. Nine other major organizations representing millions of small, medium, and large businesses have come out in support of Sen. Cantwell’s bill. View all statements of support HERE.
Last Friday, the Trump Administration previewed a proposal to exempt some food products from the president’s sweeping and unpredictable tariffs, which have contributed to rising grocery costs.
Following this news, Sen. Cantwell released the following statement: “So the administration is admitting that the tariff on coffee and bananas is a tax? These tariffs have been a self-imposed cost on American consumers and manufacturers. The sooner they stop this tariff policy the sooner we will see improved American affordability.”
Video of the April 2025 press conference at the Port of Seattle is available HERE; photos are HERE; video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE; audio of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE; and a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE.
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