In the News

Clyvanor Corp. has 75 American workers at its plant in Palmer. Tariffs that went into effect Tuesday are expected to make this and other work around the region more costly.

The company uses lumber from Canadian forests as well as hardware from Canadian factories to fabricate roof and floor trusses for Massachusetts homes and buildings, said company president Stephane Blanchette.

That lumber and those fasteners got more expensive Tuesday as tariffs championed by the Trump administration on goods not only from Canada but from Mexico and China took hold, prompting retaliatory import duties from those countries that could be the opening salvo in a long trade war.

It is a fight that puts Blanchette, his employees and customers – lumber yards and home builders – in the crossfire.

“The plan is not to shut down,” Blanchette said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It could cause a shrink of the business, maybe.”

Blanchette has been in the business for 30 years. He expanded into the United States with his plant in Palmer in 2008. He said he saw an opportunity just as the financial crisis and Great Recession took hold.

But now, the uncertainty is all but paralyzing.

“It’s chaotic now,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to understand where we are going to be six months from now. It freezes all the decisions.”

Trump on Tuesday imposed 25% taxes, or tariffs, on Mexican and Canadian imports, and a 10% tariff on Canadian energy. Trump also increased the tariff he put last month on Chinese products to 20%.

Blanchette buys millions of dollars worth of lumber each year. For the mills, and for him as a manufacturer, the calculus is the same.

“It takes me three years to expand,” he said. If he did, the cost of that expansion could rise by as much as $50 million. “It is so hard to predict what can happen.”

According to the Canadian government, 560 people are employed at the 22 Canadian-owned businesses operating in the 1st Congressional District in Massachusetts. The district exports $413 million in products each year. Businesses in the district also export $80 million a year in services.

Mexican businesses did $7.6 billion in import and export business with Massachusetts last year, according to the Mexican consulate in Boston. Those business create or support 121,000 jobs.

The 1st Congressional District also exports $309 million a year in goods and more than $50 million a year in services to China, according to Chinese trade representatives. District goods and services exports to China supported 1,820 American jobs in 2022.

One of the largest operators is CRRC MA, which builds transit cars for the MBTA and for the Los Angeles Metro in Springfield using Chinese-built rail car shells. It employs 426 people, including 265 union production employees who belong to the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 63 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 7.

In response to the Trump tariffs, China’s finance ministry fixed 15% tariffs on imports of chicken, wheat, corn and cotton from the United States, as well as 10% tariffs on imports of sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables and dairy products. China is also halting the sale of Chinese goods to 15 American companies.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country will respond to the new taxes with its own retaliatory tariffs, but the announcement won’t come until Sunday, she told The Associated Press.

Canada imposed 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods but did not specify which products would be affected. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said in a statement that the tariffs would extend to $125 billion worth of American goods in 21 days.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday he supports cutting off Canadian electricity to the United States.

The office of Gov. Maura T. Healey has said 5% to 10% of New England’s electricity comes from Quebec. Tariffs could force a price increase of $100 million and $200 million at a time of already high energy costs to consumers.

Westfield Gas & Electric has already estimated that the impact of tariffs on Canadian power on his business at about $200,000 a year, said Thomas P. Flaherty, the general manager.

“If Canada is not sending down their hydropower, that presents a problem,” he said.

Canada is a small player in the natural gas market. But with a cold winter, stocks of that energy are 25% below where they were last year.

And prices could rise at supermarkets as well.

“As I understand it, you could see price increases on such imported products sooner rather than later since the tariffs go into effect immediately and include those products that are already in shipment awaiting to arrive here in the country, not just those now arriving in the country,” said Brian Houghton, senior vice president of the Massachusetts Food Association.

Houghton said he met several weeks ago with a trade official from Canada and representatives of that nation’s potato and blueberry industries. “They were very concerned about the effect the tariffs would have upon their business here in the United States, particularly the Northeast due to our proximity of population and steady customer base,” Houghton said.

Uncertainty at the supermarket

Big Y Foods Inc. says it’s too early to tell price impacts for most items. And the Springfield supermarket chain urged caution.

“Customers do not need to bulk-buy and can have confidence that there will be plenty of alternatives available to help them stay within their grocery budgets,” Big Y spokeswoman Aimee Diliberto said. “Many of the items on their weekly shopping list are made in the U.S. and are restocked in their local store nearly every day. The supply chain is resilient and adaptable, and the grocery industry along with Big Y are taking all necessary measures to ensure household needs are met.”

Trade and tariff policy usually rests with the House Ways and Means Committee, where U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, is the senior Democrat.

“I don’t see how this leads to anything but higher prices for the American people,” Neal said Tuesday. “Trump is treating our allies like enemies, weakening our own national security, and putting American jobs at risk. His accomplices, House Republicans, have sold out their constituents with their silence on this scheme.”

“No amount of delusion makes the math work for Trump’s trade war to responsibly fund Republican handouts to billionaires, but the American people are sure to notice the pain he’s inflicting on their wallets,” Neal said.