President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs against some of the United States’ biggest trade partners roiled markets and raised concerns in Georgia on Monday, a day before their expected implementation.
The White House paused implementation of the tariffs against Mexico on Monday morning, and Canada announced a delay in implementation in the afternoon after a brisk round of talks. But taxes against China appeared to be moving forward late Monday afternoon.
The threatened taxes on imported goods from Canada, China and Mexico, if Trump ultimately goes through with all of them, would hit many things Georgians buy — including produce, clothing, electronics, automobiles and gasoline. The retaliatory steps the countries take against the U.S. will hit many things made by Georgians and companies located here that are shipped overseas — among them civilian aircraft, aerospace parts, automobiles, poultry products and wood pulp.
Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. Those taxes typically are passed along by businesses to the buyers of products, whether the buyers are manufacturers obtaining parts that go into other things or a consumer shopping at a store or online.
Trump’s order would slap goods coming from Canada and Mexico with 25% import taxes (10% on energy imports from Canada), and across-the-board 10% tariffs on Chinese goods. Those nations could retaliate against U.S. goods, if a trade war ensues.
Leaders of Mexico and Canada said the tariffs were postponed after both agreed to step up enforcement of their borders with the U.S.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said on social media that tariffs between her country and the U.S. will be put off for a month. Both countries agreed to step up enforcement on the border regarding fentanyl and the U.S. agreeing to crackdown on guns made here crossing the southern border, she said. Trump also confirmed the one-month pause in the tariffs on goods from Mexico.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Still, if a trade war ignites, these three countries are not only top countries from which Georgians buy imported goods but top buyers of Georgia-made and -grown products.
Economists generally view tariffs as inflationary, and the cost of living and inflation were the top issues among Georgia voters polled last month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Here’s what you should know:
How much could these tariffs cost you?
The nonprofit Tax Foundation said the Trump tariffs could amount to an $830 average annual hit to the wallet of each American family in 2025.
Trump enacted tariffs in his first term, largely against China. Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, said in a social media post that Trump’s first term tariffs amounted to about “$380 billion of imports over the course of several months, mainly focused on China.”
Trump’s latest proposal against the three nations, she said, “will hit about $1.4 trillion of imports in a few days, mostly on our allies.”
Trump also has threatened to impose tariffs on the European Union.
“Americans will tell you if they just looked in their own closet, pantry, garage, there’s a lot of products that are manufactured abroad. And a lot of those find their way into the United States, either through Canada or through Mexico,” said Mike Dunham, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Georgia.
For contractors, “one of the largest suppliers of timber in America comes from Canada,” Dunham said. For construction materials more broadly, “a large part of what is in the marketplace for everybody will be manufactured in China, assembled in Mexico and shipped to the states. So we’re going to see a very big impact on the construction industry.”
If someone is looking to build a house or another building and it’s not yet under contract, the price could jump up, he said.
“Some projects, I’m afraid, might get halted,” Dunham said.
How do China, Canada and Mexico rank as Georgia’s trade partners?
The U.S. is the top importer in the world.
China is the top import source for Georgia, amounting to about $17.5 billion in goods in 2023, said the state’s Department of Economic Development. South Korea comes next at $14.8 billion in goods, and Mexico was the third-largest exporter to Georgia with $13.7 billion in goods. Imports from Canada, another top-10 trade partner, were valued at about $6.5 billion.
Georgia’s top three export markets in 2023 were Canada, Mexico and China, the state Department of Economic Development’s most recent international trade report on exports shows.
The report said Georgia had $7.6 billion in exports to Canada, $4.8 billion in exports to Mexico and $3.9 billion in exports to China.
Georgia’s top five exported products are civilian aircraft; motor vehicles; turbojets, turbo-propellers and gas turbines; poultry; and chemical wood pulp, the department said.
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer
Georgia is the top U.S. state for production of broiler chickens, and the state’s industry is worth an estimated $6.7 billion, said a University of Georgia analysis based on 2022 data, the most recent year available.
Mexico is the top market for U.S. exports of broiler chickens, and Canada is the second-largest export market for broilers based on value, said the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Retaliatory tariffs could reduce broiler exports and sales.
Top imports into Georgia from overseas include vehicles, immunological products, telephone sets and other communications equipment, auto parts and heavy-duty construction equipment.
Across the U.S., autos (nearly $93 billion) and auto parts (nearly $78 billion) are the top two imported products from Mexico, data from the Census Bureau shows. The U.S. also imported more than $11 billion in produce from Mexico in 2023.
Oil (about $108 billion), autos (about $43 billion) and auto parts (about $14 billion) were top products from Canada sold in the U.S. Meats and baked goods also were high on the list.
Could tariffs hit gas prices?
Georgia has seen gas prices at the pump decline in recent months. The average price per gallon for regular unleaded was $2.93 late Sunday night, auto club AAA said. That’s down 3 cents from a week ago and 10 cents from a year ago, the organization said.
Demand from the peak holiday driving season is helping keep prices low.
Even though the U.S. is the top global producer of oil, the country still imports oil from other countries. Canada is the largest source of foreign oil, and that oil is largely refined in the U.S.
It’s likely that tariffs on Canadian oil would find their way into gas prices here.
How do Georgians feel about Trump’s tariffs?
The most recent AJC poll, before Trump’s inauguration, found 49% of respondents are somewhat or strongly opposed to Trump’s proposed tariffs, compared to 42% who strongly or somewhat support Trump’s plans.
About two-thirds of respondents said they thought Trump’s promised tariffs would increase prices.
About half of independent voters — and one-quarter of Republicans — were pessimistic about Trump’s proposed tariffs.
Cody Hall, a senior strategist to Gov. Brian Kemp, acknowledged the internal fissures even as he called for caution over quick reaction. “It really is a wait-and-see. We’ll see how these tariffs impact our economy and whether it will help or hurt,” he said. “There are a lot of moving pieces at this point, and I don’t know that we have enough information.”
It’s too early, he said, to tell if Trump is “absolutely correct” or if he needs to rethink his threats. But this was hardly unexpected.
“The first thing for everyone to realize is President Trump told folks this was a priority of his on the campaign trail, and he was elected,” Hall said. “So we shouldn’t be surprised he’s taking this tack.”
State Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Gwinnett, the chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, said voters were “hustled” during the election by Trump’s promises to tackle inflation and the rising price of household goods — and now they could be stuck with a higher bill.
“The public is going to see that the Trump administration isn’t for the people,” Merritt said. “It’s not for working families, and policies like these are only going to increase our expenses.”
— Freelance reporter Meris Lutz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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