NC loses bigly thanks to Trump, Brunswick Beacon

Brunswick Beacon, 08.14.25

When Fox business analyst Charles Gasparino discussed Trump’s deal that adds a 15% tariff on all imports from the European Union (EU), he dropped a truth bomb: “We get 15%, but that means U.S. consumers are paying 15% more. So, it’s a tax increase on U.S. consumers. Every penny we get from them is being passed to the U.S. consumer.” 

America imports about $600 billion/ year from the EU, mostly medicinal and pharmaceutical products, road vehicles, and industrial machinery and equipment. Trump’s 15% tax will cost American consumers another $90 billion/year. 

It’s even worse for NC, because not every state is hit equally hard. Some states import less from the EU than others. Every blue state relies less on EU imports than NC, which voted for Trump. Washington, Vermont and California get just 7% of their imports from the EU. New Mexico, Maine, Hawaii and the District of Columbia get 10%. Illinois and Colorado get 15%. New York gets 20%. Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey get 25%. 

Ruby-red Indiana, the hardest-hit state, gets 46% of its imports from the EU. Right behind Indiana is NC, at No. 2. We get a whopping 45% of our imports from the EU! That’s because medicinal and pharmaceutical products, the EU’s principal exports, are much more important to our economy than they are to other states. Last year, our EU imports totaled $43.2 billion. That means Trump’s 15% tax will cost North Carolinians an additional $6.48 billion/year! 

Sen. Tillis quit the Senate because Trump’s Big Bad Billionaire Benefits Bill will kick 663,000 North Carolinians off Medicaid and suck $39 billion from NC’s economy over the next decade. Losing another $6.48 billion/year to Trump’s tax adds another $64.8 billion, for a grand total of $103.8 billion that Trump will cost NC over the next 10 years! 

We need to elect a senator next year who will stand up to Trump. We need Roy Cooper. 

Kristine Garrity 

Calabash