President Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by historic numbers with more than 3.5 million votes, more than any other presidential candidate in Pennsylvania’s history. He won because he pledged to restore our steel industry to greatness and make our economy stronger than ever before. I have full faith in President Trump to make good on that promise, but I also want to make sure he has the full picture of what his supporters like me are experiencing on the ground here.
President Trump placed tariffs on various imports, including foreign steel from Canada, China, and other countries. I’m friends with steelworkers who have been through a lot of hard ups and downs. They’ve seen the Pennsylvania steel industry both thrive and struggle, and they’ve watched as politicians talk a big game about protecting their jobs without enough action behind their words.
President Trump’s tariffs could change that, but only in the short-term. Protectionist tariffs might work when they’re targeted and temporary. However, it’s important that President Trump knows that Pennsylvanians will eventually get caught in the crosshairs of economic inefficiencies and trade wars, ultimately hurting our citizens in the long-term. Tariffs as a short-term, targeted economic tool can help drive essential investments that make our industries competitive, but in the long-term make Americans less prosperous.
Pennsylvania steelworkers are the backbone of our economy. Iron and steel mills in the state are directly responsible for more than 30,000 jobs. The Pennsylvania steel industry generates $55.3 billion in economic activity. We should do everything we can to promote the industry and those jobs, and I can see why temporary and targeted tariffs on foreign steel, could serve that purpose. But since the tariffs have gone into effect, many negative economic effects have already arisen, and other countries have retaliated with tariffs of their own. Pennsylvania has taken a huge hit, and it could get worse.
A recent analysis found Pennsylvania businesses could have $5.3 billion in added costs as a result of the tariffs – and that’s not including the effect of retaliatory tariffs. Small businesses in Pittsburgh, including a local grocery store and a gift shop, recently talked to the Post-Gazette about how their costs have already gone up and could force them out of business. Rapidly changing tariffs on the auto industry have Pittsburgh-area auto dealers scrambling to adjust to rising costs. And according to industry experts, Pennsylvanians are going to see some of the worst increases in gas prices because we get so much of our refined gas and crude oil from Canada.
But that’s not all. Now that other countries are putting tariffs of their own on American goods, Pennsylvanians are seeing even more impacts. Just recently, dairy farmers in the Susquehanna Valley warned that new retaliatory tariffs from China will drive down demand and lower the value of their products. Like the steel industry, the nearly 5,000 dairy farms are responsible for a significant number of jobs and generate nearly $12 billion in economic activity. Farming generates $133 billion to the state’s economy every year, much more than the steel industry.
Family owned farms, construction, restaurant and small retail businesses are just as important as the steel industry, but they’re taking the brunt of the trade war. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. If tariffs are used at all, they should be used in a more targeted and temporary way. We need to use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. We don’t need a 25 percent tax on virtually all imports. We can support Pennsylvania’s steel industry without sacrificing the rest of our economy.
President Trump is trying to make good on a campaign promise – a promise that helped him earn 3.5 million votes, including mine. I want to help him do that, which is why it’s important to make sure he has the full picture on the ground here. We don’t need to fight an all-out, no-holds-barred trade war to save the steel industry. Especially not when the rest of the state suffers the costs. I have faith that President Trump will find a reasonable middle ground and use a narrower approach with tariffs moving forward.