A national business group warns that Georgia could lose out on nearly 750 million dollars worth of income from exports as a result of retaliatory tariffs placed by other countries on goods from the United States. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a group with over 3 million members that is organized to represent the interests of small, medium, and large businesses, has released a study today that warns of severe negative effects as a result of tariffs placed on steel and aluminum imports from several countries by President Donald Trump and his administration.
The Chamber has become increasingly critical of the Trump administration in recent months over the tariff issue. China, the EU, Mexico and Canada have already retaliated or announced plans to retaliate with billions of dollars in tariffs on American-made products. “Tariffs imposed by the United States are nothing more than a tax increase on American consumers and businesses–including manufacturers, farmers, and technology companies–who will all pay more for commonly used products and materials,” the group wrote on its website, “Retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries on U.S. exports will make American-made goods more expensive, resulting in lost sales and ultimately lost jobs here at home.This is the wrong approach, and it threatens to derail our nation’s recent economic resurgence.”
The Chamber’s study claims that Georgia will lose out on roughly 750 million dollars in lost export opportunities as a results of retaliatory tariffs by Canada, the European Union, Mexico, and China. Each has issued those tariffs in response to tariffs placed by the United States on those countries exports to the United States. One example of potential repercussions, according to the study, would be that several hundred million dollars in agricultural exports are targeted by the retaliatory tariffs including nuts, cotton, chicken, and other meats.
More industrial goods could also face tariffs. For example, Georgia’s hardest hit export to China would be aluminum scrap and waste, which accounts for 40 million dollars worth of exports a year. Millions of dollars for other goods like lawn mowers, insecticides, containers for pressurized liquids and gasses, and yachts; those four things collectively represent roughly 150 million dollars in exports a year.
The Chamber claims that over 1.2 million jobs in Georgia are supported by global trade, and many could be at risk as a result of the tariffs. “Millions of U.S. jobs depend on America’s ability to trade with other countries. Half of all U.S. manufacturing jobs depend on exports, and one in three acres of American farmland is planted for international sales. But recent and proposed trade actions by the Trump administration threaten as many as 2.6 million American jobs and will stymie our economic resurgence,” the group wrote, “Simply put, tariffs are a tax on American consumers and businesses.
Tariffs are the wrong approach to address unfair trade practices.”
