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Budzinski says ‘sledgehammer’ tariff policy bad for business

A member of the U.S. House Ag Committee says imposing wide-reaching tariffs on America’s largest trading partners is bad for business.

Illinois Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski says even though proposed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada have been paused for thirty days, the threat remains.

“One of the problems with this is the instability that it creates and exacerbates in an already unsteady market for our growers.”  She says, “They need stability to know how to grow into the future.  Tariffs are something that are really going to put a squeeze on them.”

She tells Brownfield she’s concerned about U.S. farmers losing access to export markets to competitors like Brazil.

“I’m not across the board against tariffs.”  She says, “I believe that they could be used if they were used precisely to help us incentivize American manufacturing and American jobs.  But you have to really take a scalpel to this, not a sledgehammer.”

Budzinski says the proposed tariffs would also affect farmers through increased input prices.

“Very concerning about low crop prices and potential for increasing input prices because of Trump’s tariffs,” she says.

The Congresswoman says numerous groups have contacted her office with concerns about the impact of the proposed tariffs.

AUDIO: U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski