Trump’s 50% tariff on Canadian goods disproportionately harms WA businesses & customers – last year, WA imported $15.2B in Canadian goods
EDMONDS, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined her colleagues in introducing legislation that would revoke President Donald Trump’s newest global tariffs and 50% tariffs on Canada, as well as curtail President Trump’s ability to continue waging his unilateral trade war.
“It’s time to stop taxing Americans at the border and provide working families relief from President Trump’s destructive tariffs. Repealing the outdated trade laws this Administration is abusing is the best way to end these senseless trade wars before they cause irreparable damage to our economy and alliances,” Sen. Cantwell said.
Since President Trump started his latest trade war, American families have paid the price. In just one year, Trump’s tariff tax cost the average family nearly $2,000, with hardworking Americans bearing 96% of the cost of the hundreds of billions of dollars in new tariffs. A report released last week by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation found that executive tariffs have cost the State of Washington over $7 billion since the beginning of the second Trump Administration, equivalent to $2,257 per Washington household, the 15th-highest total nationwide.
Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led the introduction of the End Trump’s Tariff Tax Act, legislation that would:
- Revoke and refund Trump’s latest barrage of tariffs, and
- Repeal the archaic authorities he has used to continue his trade war.
This legislation would apply to Trump’s newest global tariffs of 12.5% and 50% Canadian tariffs.
In addition to Sens. Cantwell and Schumer, the legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mark Warner (D-VA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chris Coons (D-DE), Angus King (I-ME), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Peter Welch (D-VT).
According to a June report by the Seattle-based Washington Council on International Trade, Washington state imported $15.2 billion in Canadian goods from April 2025 to March 2026. Washington state businesses shipped $7.3 billion in goods to Canada.
Sen. Cantwell has been a steadfast champion of opening new markets for American manufacturers overseas, and of defending American businesses from the Trump Administration’s damaging tariffs.
Immediately following President Trump’s April 2, 2025, ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, Senators Cantwell and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the bipartisan Trade Review Act to reaffirm Congress’ key role in setting and approving U.S. trade policy. The Trade Review Act of 2025, modeled after the War Powers Resolution of 1973, would reestablish limits on the president’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs without the approval of Congress.
The Trade Review Act of 2025 has considerable bipartisan support, and a bipartisan companion bill to Cantwell’s legislation has also been introduced in the House of Representatives. In October, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organization, endorsed Sen. Cantwell’s legislation and the National Taxpayers Union included the Trade Review Act in their Top 10 Bipartisan Bills for Taxpayers “No Brainer” list for 2025. View all statements of support, including from organizations that represent millions of small, medium, and large businesses, HERE.