Trump’s tariffs are ‘a six-letter word for tax,’ Ned Lamont says
MARK PAZNIOKAS / CTMIRROR.ORG
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Gov Ned Lamont with Ben Dubow, executive director of Forge City Works, the non-profit owner of a Hartford grocer geared to the poor.
Anticipating President Donald J. Trump’s latest and broadest round of tariffs, Gov. Ned Lamont complained Wednesday they will add to the $5 billion in additional costs on Connecticut businesses from previous Trump tariffs and make the state’s exports less competitive.
“Tariff is a six-letter word for tax. It's a tax on you. It's a tax that kicks in tomorrow,” Lamont said. “The president likes to call it Liberation Day. It's really Tax Day. It is tariff day. The only thing being liberated is your wallets could be liberated one to two hundred dollars a month once these taxes, these tariffs kick in.”
In a 4 p.m. event in the Rose Garden at the White House, the president announced a 10% minimum tariff on every import, a 25% levy on every foreign-made automobile, and reciprocal tariffs varying by products and nations. Together, Trump said, they will encourage a return by industries that have moved operations elsewhere.
“This is Liberation Day,” Trump said, addressing an audience heavy on auto workers. “April 2, 2025 will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again.”
Trump’s speech comes after weeks of feints and retreats on trade policy that have roiled markets and industries that often crave stability over radical change. The president proclaimed it his definitive statement on tariffs and a map that can be followed in months and years to come.
“This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It's our declaration of economic independence,” Trump said. “For years, hard working American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense.”
The baseline 10% tariff takes effect Saturday at 12:01 a.m. The reciprocal tariffs, which Trump says are intended to hit hardest at the nations with which the U.S. has its largest trade deficits, take effect four days later.
Democrats did not wait for the announcement to work on trying to run public opinion against Trump’s abandonment of free trade and his imposition of tariffs that economists say will add costs in the short term while possibly yield gains over time.
Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and the governor’s economic development commissioner, Dan O’Keefe, chose a small, unconventional grocery that serves a food-insecure customer base in Hartford as the backdrop to tell the story of how tariffs will drive up the costs of everything from vegetables to jet engines.
“This is going to put a lot of pressure on our economy and possibly tip us into a recession,” O’Keefe said.
Separately, state Treasurer Erick Russell joined Democratic treasurers from Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington in a virtual press conference to “condemn President Trump’s reckless, unaffordable and unpopular trade war that will inevitably lead to higher prices for American consumers.”
Lamont offered one mildly positive comment.
While critical of Trump’s aggressive and often erratic approach to trade — rates have been set, then rolled back; deadlines for concessions have come and gone — Lamont acknowledged using Trump’s promised tariffs on a recent trade mission to India as an inducement to invest in Connecticut.
But the Democratic governor, a wealthy former businessman, remained skeptical of whether companies would bring some plants back on shore or choose to wait for a new administration and return to free trade deals pursued by Trump’s predecessors over the past three decades.
“It takes you four or five years to relocate, say, a factory or a pharma manufacturer here, and you could have a new administration — we could be free trade again in five years — so they can't hop on every latest tariff initiative,” Lamont said.
Trump ordered no additional tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but the governor’s events focused on the impact on market-basket items that will especially hit low-income consumers, as well as big-ticket exports.
Connecticut gets 51% of its fruit from Mexico, Bysiewicz said, holding up a package of berries. Its companies, including aerospace giants like Pratt & Whitney, sell $2.6 billion in goods to Canada and $1.6 billion to Mexico.
O’Keefe said the tariffs announced since Trump returned to the White House in January threaten Connecticut’s recent growth in gross domestic product.
“Economies are complex,” he said. “Ours is a $350 billion economy that is complex, but at some level, they're incredibly simplistic. There are four things: It's consumer spending, it's business investment, it's government spending, it's net exports. And if you look at what's happening right now, all four are under pressure.”
State Sen. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, the Senate minority leader, issued a statement critical of Lamont while the governor's press conference was occurring, saying the governor has his own challenges in Connecticut.
"Focus on managing our state, governor," he said.
As far as his view of Trump and tariffs, Harding said he believes the president has a long-range plan.
"I understand there is an underlying strategy to utilize the fact we are the greatest consumer market in the world," Harding said. "And it seems to be retaliatory to countries that have done it to us and have been crippling our manufacturer for over a generation. I want to see us restore ourselves."
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