Will the Illinois GOP Stay Silent While Families Struggle?

Chicago, IL - In case you missed it, the Peterson Institute for International Economics published a study on how Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China would cost the typical US household over $1,200 a year. The Democratic Party of Illinois released the following statement:

“Twelve hundred dollars is someone’s rent, a mortgage payment or the difference between being able to afford the month’s daycare bill or not. Trump’s plans are a direct threat to the stability of working families. We ask Illinois Republicans: are you all okay with this? Will you stay silent while families struggle?”

Trump isn’t going to make corporate power players pay for his tariff policies–Illinois’ families will.

• Key excerpts from the study:
• This past weekend, President Donald Trump announced the largest tax increase in at least a generation (since 1993 or before), with the imposition of 25 percent tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico (aside from Canadian energy, which faces a 10 percent tariff), alongside a 10 percent increase in tariffs on goods from China. The direct cost of these actions to the typical, or median, US household would be a tax increase of more than $1,200 a year.
• Further, governments abroad will retaliate; both Canada and Mexico have already announced retaliatory measures. Future waves of US tariffs and retaliation will increase these substantial consumer costs alongside the other economic harms of tariffs: reduced economic growth, a shrinking export sector, and supply chain disruption.
• While Trump ran for president on a platform of lowering taxes, most Americans would see a net tax increase from his agenda so far….Only households in the top fifth of the income distribution would enjoy a net gain from the combined effects of the two tax changes; those in the bottom 60 percent of the income distribution would end up significantly worse off.