The impact of President Trump’s trade war is already being felt at the Port of Oswego in the form of reduced cargo. The port exports mostly grain to international markets, but also imports raw aluminum from Canada, where Trump increased tariffs from 25 percent in March to 50 percent in June. Interim executive director of the Port Authority Tom Schneider said revenue has already dropped by a third.
“There’s a clear, defined link between the lowering of our volumes and revenue and the tariffs.”
Schneider said the high tariffs have all but halted aluminum shipments through the port. Oswego’s docks receive the second largest volume of metal on the Great Lakes. Most of the it heads by rail to Novelis a few miles away, which then sends it to Ford auto plants in Detroit. Schneider said stockpiled inventory stored between election day and March in anticipation of the tariffs is mostly depleted.
“Product coming in with tariff that's on our ground has been at 25%,” he said. “We have not had any foreign delivery of aluminum since the 50% enactment.”
Schneider said there have been three fewer vessel stops this season. One in June didn’t have any cargo, and he’s not sure one later this month will have any either. Volume might pick up again as demand eats up the remaining inventory.
Schneider said the impact of tariffs on the port and the region’s economy was unclear back in the spring. Now, it’s Sharply focused.
“My answer then was ‘we'll really see it in the shipping.’ And we've seen it in the shipping,” Schneider said. “There's many economic indicators out there, but certainly our volumes can be an indicator of regional economic activity, at least.”
