New York families have spent over $5,000 more due to President Trump's tariffs and "other reckless policies."
That's according to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) who is among the lawmakers who want a new law to repeal and refund the tariffs. They're calling it the BAD DEAL Act, which is short for Banning Antiquated Duties and Delivering Equitable American Levies.
The measure, if enacted, would repeal all tariffs levied under the Tariff Act and refund Americans for all duties paid under the authority, Gillibrand's office said in an Aug. 27 announcement about the BAD DEAL Act proposal.
Gillibrand spoke with reporters about it during her visit to the New York State Fair in the town of Geddes on Friday afternoon. She said New Yorkers are really struggling to make ends meet.
"Their grocery costs are exponentially higher than ever before ... same with housing, same with fuel, same with medicines and instead of focusing on getting our healthcare costs down, our food costs down, President Trump continues with these reckless tariffs. He just put another 50 percent tariff on Canada," Gillibrand said in her remarks to the media at the State Fair. "And for New York State, we're a border state. A lot of our manufacturers, a lot of our farmers -- that's who they do business with, and so it's put a real challenge in being able to produce goods and sell them at a price that earns money."
The New York lawmaker plans to introduce the legislation in early September, along with U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-Ill), the Gillibrand announcement said.
Per NPR's reporting, Trump explained his reasoning behind the tariff on Canada.
"We deal with a lot of people, and people oftentimes they'll ask me, 'Who's the worst to deal with on trade?' And I said, 'That's easy, Canada. They are the worst to trade, and they they feel entitled, and we just can't have that,'" Trump explained.
The change comes after trade talks broke down and Trump announced that he would impose a 50 percent tariff on some Canadian goods, escalating a trade war with the U.S.'s longtime ally. Canada issued counter-tariffs in response.
