U.S. consumers are being warned to brace for higher prices, as President Donald Trump on Tuesday pulled the trigger on 25% tariffs for goods imported from Canada and Mexico. The White House also doubled the tariff on all Chinese imports up from 10% to 20%.
NJ Spotlight News spoke with Michele Siekerka, president and CEO of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, about the tariffs and their impact on New Jersey businesses, where manufacturing is expected to be among the hardest hit by the tariff war.
“Manufacturing by nature oftentimes needs component parts for items of things they’re producing or making that they can’t get here in America,” Siekerka said. “So they have no choice but to default to bring that in from outside the country.”
China and Canada immediately retaliated by slapping their own tariffs on billions of dollars of American goods over the coming days. Everything from fresh produce to cars and car parts along with electronics will hit your wallet harder. Mexican political leaders said they will announce the country’s own retaliatory measures on Sunday, making an all-out trade war with some of the nation’s closest trading partners more likely.
“The export industry here in the state of New Jersey is also very rich and a big part of our economy,” said Siekerka. “In 2023, $44.3 billion in exports made a part of our economy here with over 20,000 companies and 20% of New Jersey jobs supported by the export industry. So that’s something to keep in mind, and that’s certainly going to be impacted.”
Siekerka added that not all businesses are bracing for the worst. “We have to be a little bit neutral on what the longer game might be relative to tariffs and what that might mean for reinvestment back into America,” she said. “We want to make sure it comes back to New Jersey.”
“What’s really going to be important in the long term is our ability to balance what might be the impact of this on the negative side with, for example, incentives to come back to here in our country and the state of New Jersey.”
