No one knows what's next for Trump's national sales tax
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
Donald Trump’s tariff policy is rattling more than international markets. It’s fueling economic uncertainty among Rhode Island’s business and labor leaders..jpeg)
Possibly the only positive of Trump tariffs
“It’s like throwing a cat into a bathtub full of water,” said Justin Kelley, a business representative and political director for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 11. “It’s going to react, naturally, very poorly most of the time.”
Kelley made the comments at a roundtable of local leaders from Rhode Island’s building trades, hospitality, and medical equipment industries hosted by U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner at the union’s Cranston office Wednesday afternoon.
Hours after Trump’s reciprocal tariffs went into effect April 8, he placed a 90-day pause on nearly all of them. His universal 10% duty on imports from nearly every country remains in place, along with a 125% tariff on goods coming in from China.
The 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, which went into effect on March 12, still remain in effect as well. Those duties will likely increase construction costs of projects employing Council 11’s roughly 600 Rhode Island-based workers.
Kelley told Rhode Island Current the union still has two years worth of public projects on the books. But if costs continue to spiral, he said projects will either reduce in scope or completely halt.
“If the steel doesn’t go up, we can’t paint the steel — and then we can’t put the drywall in and paint the building and do what we do,” he told Magaziner. “We have to figure out a way to try to mitigate this.”
Darryl Lindie, owner of AA Sign & Awning in Warwick, said he’s already had customers back out of signage projects after his team had completed the designs. On his way to the roundtable, he received a notification from a client who decided not to move forward with a project.
“I’m biased. I want to sell people the most signage that I can,” Lindie said. “You hate to see scopes of work decrease.”
Lauryn Estrella, executive director of the Home Medical Equipment and Services Association of New England, said many suppliers have been receiving notifications from manufacturers that they may have to raise the prices for wheelchairs and oxygen tanks.
“Our patients are the elderly and the disabled,” Estrella said. “They’re just being abandoned.”
Ryan Moot, manager of business development and government affairs for the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, told Magaziner that while restaurants aim to source locally whenever possible, it’s not feasible for commodities like coffee.
Most seafood sold in Rhode Island is caught in international waters, Moot said. Even catches hauled stateside, he said, are often processed outside the United States.
Moot recalled being with a seafood wholesaler in Washington D.C. when the tariffs were announced. He said the man frantically called everyone on the supply chain wondering just how much he would have to pay for shrimp coming in from Vietnam.
“There’s just so much that simply can’t be produced here,” Moot said.
Tariffs could lead to higher menu prices, which will turn away diners.
“There might be bigger brands that are more able to take that hit without passing it on to customers,” Moot said. But not the smaller local restaurants.
Who has the tariff authority?
Under the U.S. Constitution, the power to tax and tariff falls squarely on Congress, not the White House.
But the legislative branch over the years has enacted laws giving the president some tariff powers, most notably through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The 1977 law gives the president the power to regulate international commerce in the event of a national emergency, which Trump has invoked in his latest attempt to tackle the nation’s trade deficit.
Congress could pass a law to regain its power over tariff policy with a veto-proof vote, but the Republican-led House of Representatives on April 9 approved a procedural rule prohibiting the chamber from considering legislation to rescind the tariffs until at least Sept. 30.
“If Republicans in Congress would actually grow a spine and have the courage to stand up to president Trump, in theory we could end these tariffs tomorrow,” Magaziner told Rhode Island Current. “But so far, the Republican leadership isn’t willing to do that.”
GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has proposed a bill requiring the president to notify Congress of impending tariffs within 48 hours, which Trump has threatened to veto. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, has filed companion legislation in the House. Magaziner commended his GOP colleagues, but said there still needs to be popular support across the aisle.
In the meantime, Magaziner told industry leaders to continue to use their personal stories to raise the alarm.
“The administration has shown they are susceptible to public pressure, particularly on this,” he said. “The American people clearly do not want this.”
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