Governor Josh Shapiro on Thursday blew up the commercial agenda of President Donald Trump during a visit to the port of Philadelphia, saying that the White House created a “serious economic uncertainty”, which increases the costs of forwarders and raises prices in a grocery store.
“I’m worried about how decisions are now in Washington and the White House will hurt this port,” said Shapiro, a democrat at the Packer Avenue maritime terminal in southern Philadelphia, where Dockworkers and Logistics Madeutici joined him.
Shapiro said that although Trump “blinked” on Wednesday, stopping some tariffs he imposed, the fees that remain in place, “are much higher than any tariffs in place 75 days ago … and higher than any other time in the last 100 years in this country.”
With a icy block from the Delaware River, which blows a huge American flag in the wind behind him, Shapiro noticed that the port is a significant economic driver employing 12,000 people and pumping $ 1.5 billion every year to the state economy every year.
»Read more: Philly Port Cruitraces for tariffs as the largest American fruit importer
Shapiro called Trump’s economic plan “chaotic” and warned that this would mean higher consumers from Pennsylvania. He chased the path of bananas from Central America to Philadelphia, which imports more fresh fruit than any other port in the USA.
“It will probably mean more money from your pocket,” he said.
The White House said on Thursday that “he is the duty of the President of the United States to calm markets and Americans for their economic security in the face of disorderly fear of the media.”
“Democrats have been walking against China for decades for decades, and now they have been playing guerrilla games instead of celebrating the decisive action of President Trump yesterday to eventually turn off China,” said spokesman for the White House Kush Desai in a statement for Inquirer.
Governor’s comments appeared a day after Trump stopped one of the most vital import taxes that the president imposed only a few hours after they entered into force, while raising the tariffs on goods from China – the second largest economy in the world – up to 125%. The White House on Thursday explained that the minimum tariff for China was actually 145%, Wall Street Journal reported.
Escalation with China took place after Beijing, in response to the earlier augment in Trump’s tariff, raised taxes from American exports to 84%.
Trump also said on Wednesday that he would maintain a 10% fee for almost all imports, while his administration tries to negotiate trade agreements with foreign governments in the next 90 days. The president’s decision to reverse the course about what he calls mutual tariffs occurred among the confusion in the financial markets.
“I thought people were jumping a little from the line. They made yippy, you know, they were a bit afraid”, Trump told journalists on Wednesdayadding that he was Observing variability on the bond market.
American shares increased on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement, but again fell on Thursday due to continuous economic uncertainty.
Even after withdrawing from some fees, consumers still face a general effective tariff rate of 25% – the highest for over a century, According to the Yale budget laboratoryPolitical Research Center. The budget laboratory estimates that the tariffs will raise the price of clothing 58% in a low period and augment the price of consumers by 2.7% in general.
