Washington groups detail how they are handling tariff impacts

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Industries across the state continue to brace for fallout from the implementation of U.S. tariffs on international goods, and retaliatory tariffs from Canada, China and Mexico.

At the Washington Department of Commerce, Director Joe Nguyen said the state is already feeling the impact of the tariff fight.

“We know that there is a change in behavior in Canadian consumers,” he said. “We know that our border communities have seen less traffic when it comes to tourists from Canada. And we also know that there are goods that historically have been consumed by our Canadian friends that are seeing a drop as well.

Nguyen argued the tariffs are unnecessary as they are being used by the Trump administration, as they ultimately do more harm than good.

“If the long-term goal is to harden our infrastructure, have our energy independence, things like that – there are better ways to do it than using wholesale tariffs randomly on countries on goods that are not related to those things,” he said.

Nguyen said his team has been working to shore up international partnerships as trade conflicts threaten them. On the domestic front, the Commerce Department has been helping businesses diversify, finding them other trade opportunities to invest in other places.

“But make no mistake, it’s gonna be higher prices for most things in Washington state because of these tariffs,” he said. “In the meantime, we’re trying to provide resiliency for our businesses, diversification of their goods. and then also just helping them navigate what this quagmire might look like.”

Nguyen said at least $296 million in the state’s agricultural exports to Canada will be targeted by the country’s retaliatory tariffs, with agricultural communities likely being the most impacted.

According to the Washington Grain Commission, 90% of all Washington wheat is exported overseas. The group said farmers are not only concerned about international consumers being dissuaded by higher prices for their products, but tariffs raising costs on things like fertilizer and farm equipment coming into the country from Canada and China.

Commission CEO Casey Chumrau said because grain is part of a commodity market, farmers cannot increase prices to address increased production costs.

“So, we’re kind of getting squeezed on both ends if the production costs are going up, and if we’re not able to sell for a higher price on the other side,” she said.

Chumrau said the impacts of tariffs on farmers are not fully known as the situation is constantly evolving.

And while tariffs could bring economic benefits in the long term, they could do real harm in the near term. She said tariffs do not help as the farm economy has struggled in recent years due to inflation, increasing production costs and decreasing sale prices.

“Our concern is, with kind of that fragile state of the farm economy, will those farmers be able to kind of bridge that short and medium term with the consequences that they might face, in order to realize those long-term benefits?” she said.

Chumrau said the commission is “not critical of the tariffs” and will work with them as the group communicates to federal lawmakers the impacts they could have. She added the commission is hopeful productive negotiations can lead to exceptions or lower tariff rates, and they are doing what they can to support farmers as they try to navigate all the uncertainty ahead.

Albert James is a television reporter covering state government as part of the Murrow News Fellowship program – a collaborative effort between news outlets statewide and Washington State University.