February 03, 2025 10:47 AM UTC

Colorado Importers, Exporters Brace For Trump Tariffs

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: The pain from Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs postponed by 30 days as both Canada and Mexico opt to buy time for negotiations, reports AP:

President Donald Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada as America’s two largest trading partners took steps to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking.

The pauses provide a cool-down period after a tumultuous few days that put North America on the cusp of a trade war that could have crushed economic growth, caused prices to soar and ended two of the United States’ most critical partnerships.

And with that, let’s decompress from another high-tension Monday in Trump’s America. Here’s to this trade war staying phony.

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With President Donald Trump signing orders this weekend making good on threats to impose steep tariffs on goods imported from the nation’s three biggest trading partners including Canada and Mexico, Coloradans dependent on imports from these nations are bracing for the fallout of potential 25% price hikes on everything from cars to lettuce–and as Chase Woodruff reports for Colorado Newsline, a 10% hike in Front Range gasoline prices owing to Colorado’s dependence on Canadian oil:

Colorado’s only oil refinery, located in Commerce City and operated by Suncor Energy, based in Alberta, Canada, accounts for about 40% of the state’s market for refined petroleum products, and processes crude oil from several regions, including northern Alberta’s controversial tar sands fields.

Canadian crude oil made up nearly a quarter of the total processed by U.S. oil refineries in 2023, and the majority of those imports flow to states in the upper Midwest and Rocky Mountains that supply nearly all of the rest of the gasoline, diesel and other fuel products consumed in Colorado. Canadian oil imports surged to record highs in early January upon reports that Trump planned to follow through on his threats to impose a 25% tariff upon taking office…

“Folks in Texas probably won’t see an increase due to tightened Canadian supply,” said Skyler McKinley, regional public affairs director for AAA, the travel information nonprofit. “(But) the Rockies, the Midwest and the Great Lakes region are disproportionately reliant on Canadian exports.”

CBS4 Denver’s Olivia Young reports on the impact Trump’s tariffs could have on agricultural commodities, both exported from Colorado and imported from farms in Mexico owned by Colorado agricultural interests:

Agriculture is a huge part of Colorado’s economy. Cattle is Colorado’s top commodity, followed by dairy and corn. Canada is the number one export market for Colorado, and Mexico is number two.

“I’ve been in business for 40 years. I grow Olathe sweet sweet corn, which I started 40 years ago. I raise cows. I have about 250 head of mother cows,” said John Harold, owner of the Tuxedo Corn Company…

“The concern is, are we going to be able to continue in Mexico and the United States, or is the tariff going to take the profit out of the operation?” Harold asked.

We learned something new in this story; Colorado’s famous Olathe sweet corn is grown by Colorado farmers in the winter season in Mexico, where it would be subject to the 25% tariff. Over the weekend, Colorado’s free-marketeer Gov. Jared Polis blasted the Trump administration for the manufactured peril to Colorado’s economy:

Americans and Coloradans should not be intentionally hurt with economic pain, hardship, and cost increases on daily life for President Trump’s misguided ideological vendetta against our allies Canada and Mexico.
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— Governor Jared Polis (@govofco.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Trump acknowledged for perhaps the first time that his tariffs were likely to cause at least short-term pain for American consumers. But that’s not news to Colorado business interests doing on math on how these tariffs affect their own bottom line. For a President who claims to have won office on his promises to reduce costs for American consumers after years of inflation, economic brinksmanship with our closest trading partners is the opposite of a remedy. It’s a recipe for more economic pain.

Whatever you think of Trump’s long-term goals, he’s gambling with Colorado’s–and America’s–economic future to achieve them.