What Colorado’s lawmakers think of Trump’s tariffs

Colorado Democrats quickly condemned President Trump’s sweeping tariff policies, while the state’s Republicans asked the public to take the long view or remain quiet.

Starting on April 5, Trump will impose a 10 percent tariff on nearly all imports, while on April 9 “individualized reciprocal higher tariffs” will go into effect on the countries where the U.S. has a large trade deficit.

Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper said this will be bad for the state.

“Let’s be clear, tariffs are taxes, plain and simple,” he said on social media. “Tariffs cause prices to go up. And I’ve run enough small businesses that I can say from experience that this is going to devastate many of our local entrepreneurs.”

His Senate colleague, Michael Bennet, said the tariffs will be “the largest middle-class tax increase in a generation.” He vowed to, “use every tool at my disposal to fight against this.”

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse also wrote on social media the tariffs will “raise prices for American families and push our closest allies away.” While Democratic Rep. Jason Crow said Americans will pay more to buy a home or go get groceries; “Donald Trump’s policies are bad for your budget and hurting our economy.”

Republican lawmakers were supportive of the move.

At a town hall hours after the tariffs were announced, Rep. Gabe Evans said he supports free trade, but still defended the sweeping move. He focused on the idea that these are “reciprocal tariffs, which means that if they have a tariff on us, then we have a tariff back on them.”

But not all the tariffs Trump announced are reciprocal, including some that will be levied on a couple of uninhabited islands near Antarctica. And those that are reciprocal weren’t calculated to directly match the country’s tariffs on U.S. goods. Instead, the administration’s formula takes the country’s trade deficit with the U.S., divided by its exports and then halves that amount. Existing tariff rates were not used in the calculation at all.

“It seems like everything’s in flux,” Evans said at his town hall, “but at the end of the day, I am absolutely confident that by getting back to free and fair trade practices… that will ultimately bring down the price of goods for all Americans.”

While on the campaign trail, Trump insisted tariffs would not increase prices, more recently he has said there might be some short-term pain.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, also defended tariffs at her town hall last week.

“I support President Trump’s effort to level the playing field with the entire word, and I’m working with his administration to ensure that tariffs don’t harm [agricultural] producers,” she said. “But President Trump’s proposed tariffs will put American producers first and they’ll benefit the American farmers.”

Both Evans and Boebert represent districts with large farm and ranch operations. During the first Trump administration, his trade war with China hurt U.S. agriculture exports to the point where the Department of Agriculture had to provide the industry with more than $20 billion in aid.

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union called on the administration to use a more thoughtful approach to trade policy, warning that widespread tariffs will harm agriculture.

“Farmers and ranchers will bear the burden. Agriculture relies on imports for inputs while retaliatory tariffs by other countries lower commodity prices. Higher input costs combined with lower market prices will cause the loss of more family farms and ranches,” said RMFU President Chad Franke in a statement.

Ashley House with the Colorado Farm Bureau added that Trump’s move and the expected retaliatory tariffs are “a virulent near-term trade storm that immediately chips away at our competitiveness for Colorado-grown and by extension, American  products.” In the long term, she’s worried about a major loss in market share and the enormous amount of uncertainty the tariffs pose. 

The American Farm Bureau Federation also expressed concerns, saying trade is important for farmers and ranchers to succeed. “We share the administration’s goal of leveling the playing field with our international partners, but increased tariffs threaten the economic sustainability of farmers who have lost money on most major crops for the past three years,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall in a statement.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that tariffs will have devastating impacts on small businesses.

But the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association was supportive of Trump’s move. “For too long, America’s family farmers and ranchers have been mistreated by certain trading partners around the world. President Trump is taking action to address numerous trade barriers that prevent consumers overseas from enjoying high-quality, wholesome American beef,” said NCBA’s Ethan Lane in a statement.

GOP Reps. Jeff Hurd and Jeff Crank did not respond to requests for comment.