‘It’s going to cause pain’: Lawmakers and economic experts react to Trump’s tariffs

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- U.S. Senator Tim Kaine is spearheading new legislation to limit President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs without congressional approval. This comes as the newly empowered U.S. leader enacted threats to tax imported goods from Mexico, China and even the country's known ally, Canada.

A large part of Trump's presidential campaign hinged on a pledge to reduce grocery prices, but -- according to local economics experts -- Trump's tariffs are expected to launch a ripple effect of price increases across the board, if they move forward.

"It's going to cause pain," said U.S. Senator Tim Kaine on Monday morning when asked about the potential impacts of Trump's tariffs.

To clarify, Sen. Kaine anticipates pain in the pocketbooks as the United States edges closer to a trade war -- it's not just democratic leaders anticipating pain.

"We may have some, short term, a little pain," President Donald Trump said, himself, previously in regard to potential short term impacts of his tariff plan. The leader admitted Americans could hurt a bit as a result of his plan.

"There's no such thing as a one-way trade war," Sen. Kaine said. "You know, nobody ever punishes the other side without there being a response."

Sen. Kaine's statement is evidenced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's previous announcement that U.S. ally, Canada, would retaliate. Tariffs against Canada and Mexico have since been paused.

On Monday, U.S. Senator Mark Warner also posted on social media saying Trump's tariffs are predicted to cost the average American family about $1200 dollars per year, but VCU professor and supply chain expert Brett Massimino said that might be a low estimate.

"I think it could be significantly more than that," Massimino remarked. "Once you factor in all of these indirect costs where, you know, the price of grain impacts the price of eggs, the price of eggs impacts the price you pay at restaurants. If you could quantify all of that, I think it would be much more."

The supply chain and economics expert warned prices of berries, avocados, car parts and lumber, for example, would likely shoot up rapidly if tariffs -- and their subsequent retaliatory actions -- are imposed.

The president said these tariffs are about holding foreign nations accountable in efforts to halt illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs -- like fentanyl -- into the United States. Massimino said that, in theory, some might hope this could strengthen certain U.S. long-term industries, but that's not what specialists expect to happen.

"What a lot of economists are thinking is that's not going to happen," Massimino said. "The companies are going to shift jobs away from the U.S. and try to avoid that double or triple tariffing."

On Monday morning, 8News asked Senator Kaine to share his message to Central Virginians who might be holding onto hope that this won't hurt their wallets in the long term.

"I'm not going to tell anybody not to hold out hope," the Senator responded. "I mean, we should all hold out hope, but he's already leading to price increases. What's happened to the price of eggs? They've gone up. The tariffs are going to increase prices and he's acknowledging that now. So, yeah, he was, he's, a snake oil salesman. And sadly, he fooled a lot of people."

Currently, the president can impose tariffs on any nation. As mentioned, Senator Kaine recently proposed a bill that would require congress to approve a president's plan to impose tariffs on U.S. Allies and trade agreement partners. Its legislation focused on checks and balances -- an effort to diffuse power a little bit from the president into more hands.