Senator Joni Ernst.
Early this week, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley warned the “United States Mexico Canada Agreement” won’t get ratified in congress if President Trump doesn’t lift the tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Joni Ernst, the other Republican representing Iowa in the U.S. Senate, says those tariffs “need to go away.”
“Our manufacturers are having a very hard time with that right now,” Ernst says.
Ernst met last week with about 120 people at Kinze Manufacturing in Williamsburg to discuss the impact the tariffs are having in Iowa.The tariffs on steel and aluminum imports also prompted Mexico to impose tariffs on U.S. pork imports.
“One in five jobs in Iowa is tied directly to trade, so this is an area that our manufacturers, our farmers and our ranchers are very, very interested in,” Ernst said. “But right now, the tariffs we have on those products are overwhelming and it is hurting our farm and agricultural income.”
U.S. farm income fell nearly $12 billion in the first three months of the year.
“I continue to visit with the president about these issues and am encouraging him not only to get the trade deals done as soon as possible, in particular USMCA and long-term China — we need those done, but also to remove those tariffs, so we can move forward,” Ernst says.
Ernst also met this week with Iowa businesses that distribute canned beverages and heard their concerns about rising aluminum prices.
(Photo courtesy of Senator Ernst’s office)