U.S. Representative Greg Stanton today led 42 of his House Democratic colleagues in a letter to President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the acting Secretary of Commerce and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative calling on the Trump Administration to immediately rescind the executive orders levying 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
“These broad tariffs will devastate Americans already struggling with high prices, kill jobs, and hurt diplomatic relationships with our closest partners,” the members write.
The full letter is HERE and below.
Stanton was joined by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks and Reps. Gabe Amo, Jake Auchincloss, Nanette Barragán, André Carson, Troy Carter, Sean Casten, Joaquin Castro, Lou Correa, Jim Costa, Joe Courtney, Madeleine Dean, Diana DeGette, Veronica Escobar, Lizzie Fletcher, Bill Foster, Lois Frankel, Laura Freidman, John Garamendi, Vicente Gonzalez, Raúl Grijalva, Jahana Hayes, Hank Johnson, Julie Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Timothy Kennedy, Sarah McBride, Morgan McGarvey, LaMonica McIver, Jim McGovern, Kweisi Mfume, Scott Peters, Raul Ruiz, Andrea Salinas, Hillary Scholten, Adam Smith, Eric Swalwell, Shri Thanedar, Dina Titus, Norma Torres, Sylvester Turner, and Bonne Watson Coleman.
Stanton is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and serves on the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. When he first got to Congress in 2019, he worked with the Trump administration to finalize and pass the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA). Stanton is the former Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, and led 18 trade delegations to Mexico and Canada during his tenure.
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Dear President Trump, Acting Secretary Pelter, Ambassador Millan, and Secretary Rubio,
We write today with deep concerns about the Trump administration’s imposition of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, plus a 10% tariff on energy from Canada. These broad tariffs will
devastate Americans already struggling with high prices, kill jobs, and hurt diplomatic relationships with our closest partners. We urge the Administration to rescind the relevant Executive Orders immediately.
These tariffs will destabilize the close trade relationship between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. We have had a free trade agreement for over three decades, encompassing 30% of the global economy and making up the largest trade bloc in the world. Mexico and Canada are top trading partners of the U.S., and trade between the three countries supports more than 12 million American jobs. This close relationship is ever more important as we work to strengthen our regional supply chains and compete with the People’s Republic of China.
These tariffs will increase the cost of food, automobiles, oil and gas, critical minerals, and computers for American families. They’ll make it harder and more costly to do business on both sides of border. And they’ll hurt our efforts to nearshore and create secure supply chains.
President Trump’s tariffs will harm our diplomatic ties with our neighbors and undermine our collaboration with them on critical challenges, including national security, drug control, migration, energy security. Mexico’s cooperation on immigration control—including increased interdictions, improved infrastructure at border crossings, bussing, and additional visa requirements—was a key factor in dramatically decreasing encounters at the U.S. southern border in 2024. And our security agreements allow law enforcement on both sides of the border to share best practices and expand their capacity, making it easier to track criminals, precursor chemicals, drugs, arms, and money.
Meanwhile, Canada and the U.S. jointly monitor aerial and maritime threats to our territory – with such close coordination, that Canadian firms are in fact considered “domestic sources” under the Defense Production Act. We have signed agreements and collaborated on multiple task forces to help law enforcement better target narcotic and gun trafficking. Canada is also the largest supplier of U.S. energy imports and has large reserves of critical minerals and materials necessary for both consumer goods and defense equipment.
This Executive Order by President Trump ignores the coordination between the U.S. and our two largest trading partners and instead chooses to slap them with high, across-the-board tariffs. He claims to do this to punish them for not doing enough to stop the flow of migrants and illicit fentanyl, yet these tariffs are in no way targeted to block these flows. The President has many tools at his disposal to tackle these challenges and he can also work with Congress to directly address them. His use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose these tariffs is a deliberate attempt to sidestep Congress’s constitutional authority to set tariffs. Declaring this emergency is an abuse of power that highlights the lack of a real legal justification for these tariffs.
The Wall Street Journal has already labeled the Administration’s actions “the dumbest trade war in history” and a “wealth killer,” but the real pain will be felt by every-day Americans. These tariffs will be devastating for American consumers and workers and will erode our ability to work with two of our key allies on the migrant and fentanyl crisis. We urge the Administration to immediately rescind the Executive Orders.