Tariffs are affecting the American economy extremely hard ever since President Trump implemented tariffs to other countries and once they started implementing some of their own. It has been affecting our economy to unseen levels.
Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield leads a lawsuit filed by 12 states to block illegal tariff’s that are increasing prices and inflation chaos on the American economy. This lawsuit challenges four of President Donald Trump’s executive orders that claim power to increase tariffs worldwide without congressional action.
“When a president pushes an unlawful policy that drives up prices at the grocery store and spikes utility bills, we don’t have the luxury of standing by- especially when so many Oregonians live on a fixed income,” said Rayfield. “ These tariffs hit every corner of our lives – from the checkout line to the doctor’s office – and we have the responsibility to push back.”
The lawsuit challenges President Donald Trump’s executive order that is calling for higher tariffs to be implemented to other countries’ products worldwide. The biggest country being affected is China which received a 145% increase in tariffs by President Trump’s new executive order, Canada and Mexico both get a 25% increase in tariffs and the rest of the world will receive a 10% increase. The lawsuit also aims to block President Donald Trump’s plan to raise tariffs on imports from 46 other trading partners on July 9.
Experts estimate that in Oregon, the tariffs will raise the cost of living for the average family by $3,800 a year. This essentially imposes sales taxes on the citizens who have voted down on it for years. At a press conference that Rayfield held, mother Anna Donaca told them that she is her son’s Cody Sullivan’s personal support worker. He has down syndrome and he has not been able to find a job, and Ann said these tariffs are causing more suffering for her family and for others.
“We are already living hand to mouth and now we are experiencing debt. The life preserver of all the people getting rich through cuts and tariffs is not happening for us,” Donna said, “We, the people, are sinking.”
The owner of Brooklyn Pharmacy in Portland said during an interview with KPTV Fox 12 that drug prices could rise by 15% or more.
“There will be a significant rise in medication costs for pharmacies and patients,” said Brooklyn Pharmacy owner Pat Hubbell. “Families already struggle to afford their prescriptions, and local Pharmacies will perish at an even faster pace due to the higher cost of medications. This is devastating.”
Under Article 1 of the Constitution only, Congress has the power to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts Excises” The executive orders cite the powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but law only applies when an emergency is presents “unusual and extraordinary threat” from broad and does not give power to the President to impose tariffs. No President had imposed tariffs based on IEEPA until President Donald Trump did so this year.
The case is entitled State of Oregon, et, al., Trump, et, al., and was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.
The case is led by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. Also joining them with the lawsuit are the Attorney Generals of Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
Tariffs Will Increase Prices In the Summer if they Haven’t Already
The tariffs imposed by President Trump mean Oregonians will see higher prices for a wide variety of things- being cars, electronics, toys, food, clothing, shoes, furniture, construction material by this summer, if they’re not already.
Companies of all sizes have been warning Pacific Northwest leaders that steep tariffs on China, along with widespread import taxes on all trading partners, are raising the cost of doing business. Some businesses are already passing along at least part of the increased cost on customers, while others say they haven’t yet but will have to raise prices this summer.
“Tariffs just by themselves are going to affect prices, but also that uncertainty that they create is going to affect the prices as well,” Anna Miromanova, assistant professor of economics at Lewis and Clark College, said at a press conference. “ And it’s going to affect stability within the economy. Many companies are already starting to say, ‘we’re not going to be hiring,’ Maybe they’re starting to lay off workers for those cost cutting measures.”
Economists like Miromanova predict prices will go up this summer across the board, although it’s not clear by how much. Goods and parts from China will go up the most or become harder to find, with the U.S. importers facing tariffs of more than 100% on goods from the country.
Last year Oregon companies imported more than $28 Billion worth of goods from other countries, including nearly $6.7 Billion from China alone, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division, accessed through wisertrade.org .
Tariffs increase prices, decreases certainty
The uncertainty caused by shifting tariff policies is causing consumers to hold off on making big purchases, Miromanova said at a press conference, including her. She bought her first home last year with the hopes of remodeling the bathroom this summer.
But construction materials are among the imported items already being hit with the prices hikes that could go even higher.
“I’m not going to do the bathroom remodel because, first of all, it’s going to cost so much more now,” said Miromanova. “And two, I don’t know what’s going to be happening in the future”
Looking into the past could give some indication, however.
During Trump’s first time he imposed limited import taxes against China and on certain products, like washing machines. Economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research found those tariffs were passed on to consumers or absorbed by U.S. companies, and that U.S. producers responded to reduced import competition by hiking up prices.
This time around, President Trump implemented the bulk of tariffs in early April, but companies may not pay those tariffs right away because of how imports travel. Many consumer goods are loaded into massive shipping containers that are loaded onto cargo ships.
A container filled with goods and parts from China usually spends three two five weeks on the ocean before arriving in the U.S., according to economists Apollo Global Management. U.S. businesses don’t pay the tariffs to the government until the shipment hits the port of entry.
Economics noticed a surge in imports earlier this year as companies anticipated more tariffs. Now, West Coast ports are starting to report a decline in container volume coming into the U.S., with the expectation traffic will slow down even further in the following weeks.
‘Less containers are now coming on our vessels and this is just tip of the iceberg,” Port of Tacoma Commissioner Dick Marzano said during a press conference. “ It’s going to get worse unless we change dramatically.