Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Utah congressmen John Curtis and Blake Moore met with business leaders to discuss tariff impacts.
- They addressed confusion over President Donald Trump's planned 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
- Curtis plans to write to the Commerce secretary, while Moore emphasized moving from Chinese manufacturing.
WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump continues to threaten to increase tariffs on goods from several countries, including the United States' neighbors Mexico and Canada, Sen. John Curtis and Rep. Blake Moore met with Utah business leaders on Thursday to talk about how the confusion swirling around trade is affecting them.
In a Truth Social post on Thursday morning, Trump blamed Mexico and Canada for the "very high and unacceptable levels" of fentanyl flowing into the U.S. and said he is still planning to levy 25% tariffs on goods coming from the two countries beginning on March 4.
Trump also said he will increase tariffs by another 10% on China, while a new round of reciprocal tariffs on trading partners who tax goods imported from the United States are planned to go into effect in early April, as NBC reported.
Utah congressional leaders react to tariff news
A few hours after Trump's post went live on Thursday, Curtis and Moore joined the Utah World Trade Center and the Salt Lake Chamber on a Zoom call to discuss the impact current and potential tariffs would have on local companies. They also reassured business leaders that their voices are being heard despite the current state of confusion.
"I was in Congress seven years ago under Trump one and still have scars from the tariffs," said Curtis. "I remember the phone calls, the letters, the pleas of our small businesses."
"The smaller you are, the more difficult it is to navigate tariffs. It's not that we don't so feel sorry for large business, but they have more ability to switch supply chains, rely on different products and shift that burden around, and a lot of our small businesses don't," he continued.
Curtis, who was elected to the Senate last November after serving in the House for more than seven years, said his new duties included voting for Trump's nominees. Throughout the confirmation process, Curtis conducted reviews, met with each nominee and maintained he would evaluate each one separately.
He asked the nominees connected directly and indirectly with Trump's tariffs about ways to protect small businesses. The Utah senator also offered a few ideas, like "giving small businesses a longer time to adapt to the tariffs exemptions," similar to the policy during Trump's first term.
"Now that the tariffs seem to be going in place, I'm having the same discussion again with them," Curtis said. He revealed he attended a private meeting with an official from the Trump administration on Wednesday.
Curtis declined to share too many details from the meeting but said that when he expressed his worries about the 25% tariffs, the Trump official indicated the president "starts high and ends up low."
The Utah senator said he hopes that's the case but still has questions about what isn't being taken into account: How are small businesses expected to plan amid these changing policies? Do they lay off employees or stay on course for the time being? To elevate these concerns, Curtis said he will pen a letter to Howard Lutnick, the U.S. secretary of Commerce.
Moore, who represents Utah's 1st District, agreed with Curtis' analysis. "It's a turmoil," he said. "I'm not afraid to call it that."
The Utah representative sits on the Trade Subcommittee under the Ways and Means panel.
But where Curtis said he wants to protect a business that is dependent on niche Chinese imports, Moore said he believes Americans need to move away from Chinese manufacturing. Still, he told the businesses on the Zoom call that he understood their frustrations.
The exclusion process that existed under Trump's first term is not being deployed this time around, Moore said, as far as he knows.
"We don't know if that softens. I can't imagine a world that it doesn't soften, but we're going to continue to not just push for it, but communicate why there's a very nuanced need for these exclusions."
State of negotiations with Mexico and Canada
Late last month, Trump claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over immigration issues, as the Deseret News reported.
When the Latin American country did not accept two U.S. military aircraft full of Colombian migrants, sent by the U.S. government, Trump responded by threatening the country with tariffs and other economic measures.
Shortly after, the Colombian government agreed to Trump's terms "including the unrestricted acceptance" of Colombian migrants deported from the U.S. In exchange, Trump agreed not to go ahead with his threats.
"I love the tariff concept. I understand why President Trump says, 'Tariffs are my favorite word,'" Moore said. Americans witnessed Trump using his leverage to make foreign counterparts fold for U.S. benefit, he added.
"The only problem is there's more to deal with Mexico right now," Moore said. "Canada — they're already working with us on all these things."
He added it would be tough if the negotiations with Mexico and Canada fail. It's also possible Europe jumps on the bandwagon and imposes similar tariffs against the U.S., Moore said. "I'm just probably being overly, maybe a little pessimistic, or, as John would say, grumpy," he added.
Both the lawmakers attempted to reassure the attendees, but the lack of information from the administration surrounding tariff policy is evident.
"I very well understand," Curtis said, "the difficulty of trying to plan a business, of trying to decipher if it's a threat or if it's a reality."
The Utah senator added: "I wish I had a good answer for that, other than just to hang in there and we'll see where this thing eventually settles out."
