Senators Murray, Wyden, and Padilla and West Coast Ports Sound Alarm on Trump’s Tariffs

Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Alex Padilla (D-CA) held a virtual press call alongside West Coast ports to sound the alarm on the dramatic decline of container ships making the trip to West Coast ports and the harmful consequences of Trump’s tariffs across the American economy—price hikes, layoffs, empty store shelves, and more.

The Senators were joined by Mario Cordero, Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Long Beach; Ryan Calkins, Port of Seattle Commissioner; and Dick Marzano, Port of Tacoma Commissioner. The press call comes just one day after the overwhelming majority of Senate Republicans rejected a bipartisan resolution led by Senator Wyden and unanimously supported by Democrats to repeal President Donald Trump’s global tariffs.

A new forecast by Apollo Global Management contends that the U.S. economy is on the verge of a self-inflicted recession as a result of Trump’s tariff policies, drawing a plain timeline from Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2nd to a dramatic slowdown of container ships making their way to U.S. ports. Apollo predicts this slowdown of container ships will lead to a sharp decrease in trucking demand by mid-to-late May, which will subsequently result in supply shortages and lower sales for retailers. By late May to early June, Apollo predicts layoffs will occur across trucking and retail industries and that the U.S. economy will fall into a recession by this summer.

During the call, the West Coast Senators sounded the alarm on the major warning signs for the economy and continued to urge their Republican colleagues to join them in asserting Congressional authority over tariffs to put an end to Trump’s trade war and minimize the economic damage already inflicted by the President.