Gov. Kathy Hochul opened the New York State Fair Wednesday with a message to President Donald Trump: back off with the tariff policy that is hurting New York farmers and ruining relations between Americans and Canadians.
"I wish they would just stop," Hochul said. "If I sound frustrated, I am. It has to stop. Just leave the farmers alone for a day even. And they'll be far better off. Just back off."
Trump tariff’s are touching the entire agricultural spectrum in New York. That, along with poor relations between the U-S and Canada, has grape growers like Scott Osborn, co-owner of Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, losing tourism dollars from Canadians.
"Canadians are not day trippers, said Osborn. "They come for the weekend, they come for a week, and the economic impact of that is huge. And they’ll buy my wines in the cafe, or buy wines while they’re staying. It’s been a huge impact."
Brian Reeves grows fruits and vegetables in Onondaga County. He said the costs of equipment made in Canada has skyrocketed, with suppliers not sure what’s happening next.
"They shake their head and say 'today here’s what your price is, but I can’t quote you a month ahead or I don’t know'," said Reeves. "That all breeds a bad business environment."
Jim Bittner owns Bittner-Singer Orchard in Niagara County, and said the uncertainty means he doesn’t know what to do with 100 acres of empty land.
"Normally we’d be planting fruit trees," Bittner said. "We have no certainty what’s going on next year, the year after that as far as trade, cost of inputs, so we’re really just sitting on our hands."
Hochul said these are the stories that have her frustrated with the Trump Administration, and the reason the state has come up with a tariff relief fund.
“Their existence on its own is very challenging, what they have to deal with, a lot of uncertainty," she said. "But now to have this unleashed on them is so cruel, that we had to do something and that's why we came up with $30 million in relief. We have over 2,800 applications."
Hochul expects those funds to be released to farmers this fall.
