UPDATE: President Trump and the president of Mexico announced Monday that tariffs on that country would be "paused" for a month after Mexico agreed to send 10,000 troops to the border.
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said President Donald Trump’s newly imposed tariffs will impact the price of Super Bowl party staples this Sunday and could cost families an average of $1,200 a year.
Speaking from his Manhattan office on Sunday, Schumer said the tariffs on Mexico will ramp up the price of beer and guacamole ingredients like avocados and limes.
“It’s going to affect beer, OK? Most of it—Corona here—comes from Mexico,” Schumer said. “It’s going to affect your guac, because what is guacamole made of? Avocados. Both from Mexico.”
The Super Bowl is this Sunday evening between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. The event is the most-watched TV broadcast in the U.S. each year.
Trump declared an economic emergency last week, citing illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling, to place duties of 10% on all imports from China and 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada. The tariffs, which go into effect Tuesday, have triggered retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico on U.S. goods. Trump said Sunday on social media that Americans could feel "some pain" as a result but that "it will all be worth the price that must be paid."
“We’re now in a trade war with Mexico and Canada,” Schumer said. “For the American people it will now be a war between prices and their paychecks.”
Schumer pointed to an estimate from the nonpartisan Budget Lab at Yale University, which found the tariffs would cost the average American household as much as $1,200 in annual purchasing power.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand echoed Schumer’s concerns at her own news conference Sunday, calling the situation a "hot mess."
“When you are having your Super Bowl celebration, your guacamole’s going up—I’ll promise you that,” Gillibrand said. “Because those avocados get grown all over the place, including Mexico.”
Schumer wants Trump to back off of the tariffs, and he said the Democrats will propose legislative solutions.
Speaking on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York and Canada have a strong trade arrangement and a “synergy” in the region that will be heavily impacted by the tariffs.
“We’re deeply concerned about this,” Hochul said. “They’ve been partners of ours since the beginning of our country.”
“It’s critically important to our farmers and our manufacturers and all the areas we produce material that Canada needs—that we get that across the border with ease,” she said.
Hochul warned anything that hurts New York will have a “ripple effect” across the country given the state’s large economy.