Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that California is looking for ways to expand trade and convince international partners to exempt global recovery as President Trump’s swept round tariffs have overturned us and global financial markets.
“Donald Trump’s tariffs do not represent all Americans,” Newsom said in a video posted on social media platforms Friday. California’s 40 million residents live in “the tent pole of the US economy,” he said, accounting for 14% of GDP nationwide and is the fifth largest economy in the world.
“Seeing new opportunities to expand trade, he has directed trading partners around the world to remind them that California remains a stable partner.
California is a major trading partner around the world, and tariffs can have a negative impact on many sectors of the state’s economy, from the technology industry to agriculture and ports. However, it is unclear exactly how Newsom’s efforts to open up exemptions will work, or whether the state can build such exceptions.
Newsom’s Office said in a news release it would work to pursue “cooperative opportunities with trade partners” to protect California’s economic interests (workers, manufacturers, businesses) and the broader supply chains associated with the state’s economy. The administration “explores ways to support job creation and innovation in industries that rely on cross-border trade, and to promote economic stability for businesses and workers affected by federal trade disruptions. [and] Protect access to critical supplies, including construction materials needed for recovery efforts following the devastating Los Angeles fire. ”
“Instead of trying to get into international deals, Gavin Newsom should focus on uncontrolled homelessness, crime, regulation and affordable nature in California,” White House spokesman Kush Desai replied.
Stock markets around the world fell even lower on Friday after China coincided with a massive tariff hike in Trump’s escalating trade war. There was growing concern over a significant rise in prices that could be found in consumer pocket books.
On Thursday, everything reached its lowest one-day drop, with stocks plunging since the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Alliance and Nasdaq Composite tanking the economy at the beginning of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
The tariffs have hit some of California’s top trading partners.
The tariffs include an additional duty of 24% in Japan, a 25% in South Korea and a 34% in China.
Canada and Mexico will be excluded from both baseline and “mutual” tariffs, which could mitigate the effectiveness of grocery stores. Most of the US produces imports from Mexico and Canada, including avocados, cucumbers and mushrooms.
However, the country still faces 25% taxes on certain goods and 25% tariffs on imported cars and light trucks. This week, Southern California car buyers scrambled to buy before customs duties.
Kevin Crowden, an economist at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica, told the Times Thursday. “We don’t have specialized manufacturing in all of these supply chains and certainly not sacrifices in the US.”
Trump said the new tariffs represent a turning point for the global and for the US. He said Wednesday, called “the Day of Liberation,” “will be remembered forever as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s fate was reclaimed and America began to become wealthy again.”
“Our country and its taxpayers have been torn apart for over 50 years, and that’s not happening anymore, it’s not happening,” Trump said. “This is, in my opinion, one of the most important days in American history. It is a declaration of our economic independence.”
For years, California leaders have tried to establish relationships with foreign leaders and local government officials from other countries, apart from those that the administration occupy the White House. Newsom and former governor Jerry Brown both signed agreements with other countries on climate policy, and efforts accelerated due to Trump’s hostility towards international environmental cooperation during his first term.
After taking office in January, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is an international climate agreement in which countries around the world agree to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming. During his 2024 trip to the Vatican, Newsom met with Italian political leaders and signed a memorandum of understanding to address climate change. On a trip to Asia last fall, the California governor reached a similar agreement with local governments in China, Guangdong and Jiangsu, and Beijing and Shanghai.
California also agrees with local governments in Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and Norway. Since taking office in 2019, Newsom has personally met with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and other national leaders.
Times staff writer Lawrence Dalmient and the Associated Press contributed to the report.
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