From tariffs on Canada set to roll out tomorrow to the impacts of extended deployments in the Middle East due to the Iran war, national headlines have a regional impact. During a recent stop at Shelburne Farms, Vermont Senator Peter Welch brought the effects of those stories on Vermont and New York's North Country into focus.
On Wednesday, a new round of 50% tariffs announced by President Donald Trump will go into effect on a number of Canadian products including dairy and cheese, seeds and plants, apparel, smartphones, ice skates and hockey sticks.
Vermont Senator Peter Welch calls the import taxes a catastrophe for regional businesses and Canada.
“The original tariffs were declared unconstitutional. These new tariffs have no legal basis that have been established and it’s Trump being arbitrary. We just had the eastern province premiers here with the New England governors and all of them, including Governor Scott, are very much opposed to the damage that these tariffs do to our small businesses and to our tourist economy. It’s very, very bad. And a 50% tariff is a hammer blow to our businesses.”
Also in the headlines this week are recent reports out of the Strait of Hormuz that describe mental health and supply issues on the warship USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed in the region since the start of the Iran war. Concerns include lack of food and water and stress from an extended deployment.
The Vermont Air National Guard and its fleet of F-35 fighter jets were deployed in late December to Puerto Rico to support the administration’s military operation in Venezuela and then were immediately sent to the Middle East. Welch is worried about what Vermont and northern New York guardsmen may be facing during their deployment.
“We’ve got folks who are over there and they’ve been on long deployments. It was a no-announcement deployment so families had to uproot themselves right around the holiday of Christmas. I’m getting extremely concerned about this. This really gets back to the rash and reckless decision the president made to go to war that’s going on and on and on. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Costs to Vermonters with diesel fuel, farmers for fertilizer, has escalated as a result of this. The war’s got to end. That’s the way to bring our troops home. End the war.”
Another concern of Welch's is rumblings as November's midterm elections approach that Trump might take actions to interfere if results do not benefit him. But the Democrat says Vermont has solid safeguards to deflect any federal interference in a process that is managed by the states.
“I’m confident about Vermont. We’ve had such a strong bipartisan commitment to free and fair elections and I don’t think we’re as subject to that as many other parts of the country. You see the President continuing his argument that the 2020 election was rigged. What he’s doing is saying in advance of the election that they’re rigged unless he wins it. So it’s extremely alarming and it’s unique. We’ve never had that, a president, be attacking the integrity of the elections.”
In recent Democratic primaries across the country, a number of Progressives have won. Welch comes from a state where the Progressives and Democrats are each major parties on their own. He says there is a common thread to Progressives' victories in other states where candidates run as both Democrats and Progressives.
“I think the common theme, whether it was quote moderates or progressives who won, because some won and some lost, is that they focused on the affordability agenda. That’s what the unifying factor is for democrats. We have to pay attention to the affordability challenge that everyday Americans have.”
Welch is optimistic that Democrats will take control of both the U.S. House and Senate following the November elections.
“I think people are really fed up with Trump. I mean, he made $2 billion in the first year of his presidency. So, he’s done okay. But everyday Americans are seeing gas prices up, food prices up. And we’ve got an economy where the rich are getting richer and everyday folks, who have solid middle class jobs, are really struggling.”
The Democrat says if his party takes control of Congress, their first priority must be addressing affordability as Vermonters and people across the country struggle under Trump administration policies.
