SCHUMER: CHEMUNG COUNTY IS ON FRONTLINES OF TARIFF WAR, RAISING PRICES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES & FAMILIES ACROSS UPSTATE NY; STANDING AT WARD APPARATUS, SENATOR REVEALS HOW TARIFFS ARE HURTING LOCAL MANUFACTURERS, CALLS FOR BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION TO END COSTLY TRADE WAR
Ward Apparatus Manufactures Emergency Response & Rescue Vehicles For Fire Departments; Due To Tariffs On Aluminum From Canada And Materials From Other Countries They Along With Dozens Of Other Local Businesses Are Seeing Costs SKY-ROCKET - This Means Higher Prices For Customers And Firefighters Due To Tariffs
Over 17,000 New Yorkers Across The Southern Tier – Including 5,100 In Chemung, Steuben & Schuyler Counties – Work In Industries Directly Impacted By Tariffs, With Thousands More In Adjacent Fields Like Tourism That Are Seeing Huge Drops As Canadians Cancel Trips To Upstate NY
Schumer: We Need To Save Our Small Businesses From The Administration’s Tariff War That Is Raising Prices On Everyone And Killing Jobs
With Trump’s tariff war hitting Main Street businesses across Upstate NY, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today stood with Southern Tier business leaders like Ward Apparatus, a company that builds emergency rescue and response vehicles for fire departments and is feeling the pain with major hits to their bottom line due to tariffs on Canada and other countries. The senator said this destructive and un-strategic tariff war that Trump has started has Upstate NY businesses, seniors and working- and middle-class families footing the bill with increased costs.
Schumer said every day this chaos continues, it risks 17,000 jobs in the Southern Tier in industries impacted by the tariffs and even more jobs in Upstate NY’s vital tourism sector, and revealed he will push for the Senate to vote on a resolution to end this destructive trade war.
“Chemung County and the Southern Tier are on the frontlines of the destructive Trump tariff war. Let’s be clear: these tariffs are a tax increase on Upstate NY. This trade war is raising costs up for families, small businesses, and in the case of Chemung County’s Ward Apparatus, which manufactures emergency vehicles, it is raising costs for first responders, fire departments, and municipalities that need this lifesaving machinery,” said Senator Schumer. “If this tariff war continues, it could devastate Upstate NY’s economy in ways we haven’t seen since the height of the pandemic. Small businesses are struggling to figure out how to make ends meet and being forced into difficult decisions, including if the increase in costs means they will need to lay off staff or even close their business altogether, and that is unacceptable. That’s why when the Senate returns, I will force a vote to end this reckless trade war that is hurting families and small businesses throughout the Southern Tier and across Upstate New York.”
Schumer explained that Ward Apparatus operations in Chemung County, along with dozens of other businesses in the area, and thousands across Upstate NY, have been rattled by the trade war. Aluminum is a key component in the emergency response vehicles they build for firefighters, and it currently faces a 25% tariff, as the majority of aluminum comes from Canada. With more tariffs on the way, and through no fault of their own, prices for Ward Apparatus’s trucks could go up 10% for customers – as much as $30,000 or $40,000 – a cost which gets footed by the firefighters and municipalities that need to purchase them.
Schumer added, “We don’t want to see departments and agencies compromising on the safety of the fleets their first responders operate, or the ability they have to adequately meet and respond to the needs of the public they are tasked to protect, because Trump’s tariffs have made it too cost-prohibitive. Our first responders deserve the best, and the public should not be worried about impacts to their safety.”
Scott Beecher, CEO/Owner of Ward Apparatus/Ward Diesel stated, “We try to source domestic parts, materials, and components as local as possible, but there are many not available or cannot be 100% sourced domestically. Having tariff uncertainty makes it very difficult to plan out production over an extended period of time. I agree with efforts to bolster manufacturing in the US, but unintended negative consequences hurt business’s and add to already long lead-times. These costs will have to be passed on to the end users and in our case that’s local fire departments, municipalities, and communities. The more predictability and stability we can have, the better we can supply our incredible firefighters with our trucks and equipment we manufacture.”
Ward Apparatus is one of many Southern Tier-based businesses struggling to prepare for the impacts of tariffs to their bottom line. Schumer was also joined by Rimco Plastic and Swift Glass, local businesses that are feeling the impacts.
Rimco Plastics Corporation, also located in Chemung County, manufactures and supplies thermoformed plastic trays and lids for businesses' shipping, handling, and production needs. The uncertainty of market conditions as a result of tariffs has created challenges for the business in obtaining the raw material, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), needed to produce their products. Suppliers of PVC have halted their orders due to the uncertainty of pricing. As a result, Rimco has had to decline orders, even from long-standing customers, because this material is unavailable.
For almost 100 years, Swift Glass has been a fabricator of quality and custom glass, providing a variety of custom glass parts for biomedical, appliance, industrial and commercial, optical, and aerospace applications. Given the custom nature of their products, a large segment of the glass and materials they purchase are sourced around the globe to accommodate the unique needs of their product’s applications, items that will be subjected to tariff increases in the coming months.
“For Swift Glass, the brunt of the tariff issue will be felt with our far material purchases. About 50% of glass we buy comes from Europe and we were notified that starting in June, there would be an 8% increase added to what we have been paying,” said Charlie Burke, Vice President of Sales at Swift Glass. “This material is specifically used for defense applications, medical diagnostics, and the semiconductor industry. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent made in the United States so this tariff increase, if it does occur, will be passed on to these customers.”
According to the Main Street Alliance, a network of small businesses, 81.5% of small business respondents to a recent survey indicated they would raise prices for consumers due to tariffs and 31.5% indicated they would lay off employees as a result of the increased costs from tariffs. Tariffs are also creating uncertainty for families and jobs. If implemented again, tariffs are expected to increase costs for the average American family by as much as $5,000 a year, and families are struggling to plan for the future without assurances about their jobs. According to a New York Times analysis, over 17,000 New Yorkers across the Southern Tier including 2,500 in Chemung County work in industries targeted by the administration’s tariffs, which does not even account for all the related jobs, such as jobs in the tourism industry, that are also being impacted by the damage of this trade war.
Schumer explained that planned tariffs hurt small businesses across the country, especially because they can’t stockpile raw materials for future orders before tariffs take effect and often have very slim margins to adapt to increased costs. The whiplash and uncertainty over tariffs have also sent the economy into a tailspin. Trump previously delayed the start of his tariffs twice and canceled across-the-board tariffs six days after implementing them. Uncertainty is causing the stock market to fall, causing chaos for small businesses to operate, and shaking the job market.
Schumer said the Senate has a plan to end this dangerous trade war and protect Upstate NY businesses. Earlier this month, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution to end tariffs on Canada and urged the House to pass it as well. Schumer also said when the Senate returns it will vote on a resolution to reverse these new taxes of 10% on all imported goods and end the looming threat of additional tariffs of up to 49% on products Americans buy from other countries. Schumer said ending this costly trade war is key to protecting New York from price increases and job losses as a result of tariffs on Canada.
“I am all for addressing trade imbalances, I have always been a China hawk and have long fought against unfair trade practices, but these sweeping, ill-conceived tariffs are creating chaos and undermining those goals. Rather than uniting the world against China, Trump has united them against us! No matter which way you slice it, costs are going to skyrocket for consumers. If you’re in Upstate New York, you’ll feel it first, and worse than just about anywhere in the country. We need everyone, especially NY Republicans, to stand up against Trump’s senseless, job-killing, cost-increasing tax on Upstate New Yorkers,” concluded Schumer.
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