Cantwell Joins WA Small Business Owners at Port of Seattle to Explain Harms of Trump Trade Wars

SEATTLE –Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined nine local business owners and leaders at the Port of Seattle to push back against the Trump administration’s tariffs-first trade policy.
"These businesses here today are reminding us what we already should know: that this kind of tariff policy disrupts an integrated economy, hurts small businesses, and basically disrupts what is an important opportunity for the United States to grow more jobs for the future,"said Sen. Cantwell."Building alliances and [strengthening] our innovation economy is what we should be doing."
"In my 32 years of designing and manufacturing KAVU has survived tough times, but nothing close to this,”said Barry Barr, CEO of KAVU.“Due to the extreme spikes in prices, we are expecting that many if not all of our 2,000 independent outdoor retailers … will cancel their orders, leaving us with no sales and at the precipice of shutting down."
"I never thought geopolitics would get in the way of making delicious pizza, yet here were are,”said Joe Fugere, CEO of Tutta Bella.“People in the United States should not have to travel overseas to enjoy the religious experience of great Italian pizza. We can have it right here at home. But only if we're smart about how we unlock access to the world's best products."
“Last month we brought in a container with a value of about $200,000, and we had to pay an extra $20,000 to bring that in with the 10% [tariff],”said Jeff Demir, COO of SwaddleDesigns.“This month we're bringing in another container, that container will cost us an extra $40,000 because the China tariffs went from 10% to 20%. … We have a container that's right now sitting in China ready to ship, that container would cost us $300,000 of extra tariffs given the 145% [tariff]. Obviously that container is going to stay in China and it's not going to be brought over here. Our company will have to operate with the product that we have until this gets resolved.”
Also appearing at today’s event were: Northwest Seaport Alliance and Northwest Seaport Alliance Co-Chair and Port of Tacoma Commissioner John McCarthy; Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho; Gordon Bluechel, CEO of Access Laser; Chris Stone, Deputy Director of the Washington State Wine Commission; Blas Alfaro, Partner at Fulcrum Coffee Roasters; and Molly Neitzel, CEO of Molly Moon’s.
Sen. Cantwell recently introduced the bipartisanTrade Review Act of 2025to reaffirm Congress’ key role in setting and approving U.S. trade policy, and reestablish limits on the president’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs. Since the introduction, Sen. Cantwell has appeared onCNN International,CNBC,CBS’s Face the Nation,MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes,MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, to discuss the bill.
Sen. Cantwell’s bill has since picked up12 additional cosponsors– an equal mix of Republicans and Democrats – and beenendorsed by multiple major U.S. business organizations,including theNational Retail Federation, which is the largest retail trade association in the world. Last week, a bipartisanHouse companion billwas introduced.
In Washington state, two out of every five jobs are tied to trade and trade-related industries. More information about how those tariffs will affect consumers and businesses in the State of Washington can be foundHERE.
For the past three months, President Trump has been sowing economic chaos across the country with unpredictable and ever-changing tariff announcements. His back-and-forth announcements and actions, which have whipsawed American businesses and consumers, as well as close neighbors and allies, include:
Video of today’s press conference isHERE; photos areHERE; video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks isHERE; audio of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks isHERE; and a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks isHERE.