SCHUMER MEETS WITH FINGER LAKES FARMERS & SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS IN YATES COUNTY ON FRONTLINES OF TRUMP’S TARIFF WAR
With Trump’s tariffs rising costs for Finger Lakes farms, small businesses, and farm winery vineyards, which are simultaneously suffering from the lack of Canadian tourists and the drop in export sales opportunities to Canada, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer this week met with Finger Lakes farmers and business owners on the frontlines of Trump’s destructive tariff war in Yates County:
“Finger Lakes farmers and small business owners are on the frontlines of Trump’s destructive trade war. Earlier this week, I met with farmers in Yates County and small businesses from across the Finger Lakes to discuss the impact of Trump’s tariffs on local businesses, and they said what I have long known: Trump’s tariffs are a tax increase on Upstate NY. Our farmers, wineries, and farm breweries depend on supplies like aluminum cans and raw ingredients from Canada, from barley to soybeans, to make American-made food and beverages. As these costs skyrocket, our farmers are seeing sales plummet because our Canadian friends no longer want to come to New York or purchase our products. One farm told me they’re seeing a dip in businesses because Canadian grocery stores don’t want to buy American products, and a vineyard said they used to see customers from up to 35 different counties every year, but this year only one. Rising costs and lost customers are a double whammy that’s devastating our farms and vineyards,” said Senator Schumer. “Local farms can’t afford this chaos and need to be able to plan for tomorrow with the certainty they deserve. That’s why, when the Senate returns, I will force a vote to end Trump’s trade war with Canada that is crushing Finger Lakes farms. It is time we put an end to Trump’s reckless and costly trade war once and for all and save our farms.”
Schumer gathered with Finger Lakes farmers and small businesses at Klaas and Mary-Howell Marten’s Lakeview Organic Grains farm in Penn Yan, NY and met with leaders from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF) and Wine America and its member wineries including Anthony Road Vineyards, Fox Run Vineyards, Simmons Vineyard, Scout Vineyard, Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, Bully Hill Vineyard, leaders from the New York State Brewers Association and members including Iron Tug Craft Brewery, as well as small food producing business including Northern Soy Inc. in Rochester, NY.
Schumer has long worked with local vineyards and the NYWGF to increase export access to Canada and its Ontario Province (Liquor Control Board of Ontario LCBO), which is one of the largest single wine buyers in the world. This work has led to wines from the Finger Lakes appearing on the LCBO shelves in recent years, with Canada becoming the largest market for American wine outside of the United States. However, due to Trump’s rhetoric and Canadian tariff war, LCBO is no longer buying U.S. wine, which the winery owners explained has cost them needed sales revenue. In addition, local farm wineries reported experiencing a steep drop-off in Canadian tourist visits caused by Trump’s tariff rhetoric and corresponding lost sales revenue at their winery tasting rooms, which many of the farm wineries rely on as a vital part of their business models. One winery that typically sees tourist customers from up to 35 countries a year at their tasting room reported that so far this year, only one single Canadian customer has visited their tasting room. Schumer discussed how this aligned with a staggering drop of more than 1.5 million fewer Canadian travelers crossing the NY-Canada border since Trump took office, an overall 22% decrease, and how it is especially hurting the bordering upstate New York economy.
The loss of export sales to Canada and Europe is creating a ripple effect on the New York wine industry by creating a glut of unsold wine and wine grape juice. One vineyard farmer who sells grape juice to winery customers to make their wines, explaining that this year he estimates the growers in the Finger Lakes region combined will have up to 6000 tons of valuable grape juice, which equates to 360,000 cases of wine, that will be left unsold because of the decline in worldwide demand for U.S. wine.
Craft brewers discussed how the New York State brewing industry relies heavily on barley and malted barley from Canada, and how the tariffs are raising the cost of making beer substantially, even for the smallest of breweries. With margins already tight for all craft breweries, these increased tariff costs could undermine their profitability or even their continued operations. Likewise, representatives of the nearly 50-year-old 25-employee Northern Soy Inc production facility in Rochester that manufactures tofu for sales in the U.S. and Canada, discussed how new cross-border tariffs with Canada create unwelcome uncertainties for the company and its employees and threaten to add new costs to doing business. While the company sources most of its raw soybeans from U.S. producers, including from Klaas and Mary-Howell’s Penn Yan farm, they also have existing contracts with Canadian soy producers that may now saddle the business with increased costs for its raw materials. Meanwhile, their sales in Canada are being impacted by the reluctance of Canadian grocery stores and customers to purchase U.S.-made products.
Schumer is one of the leading advocates in Congress to end this unnecessary, damaging trade war with Canada that is decimating the Rochester-Finger Lakes’ economy, tourism, small businesses, and local jobs. The senator announced he will use a special fast-track process to force a vote when the Senate returns to end Trump’s destructive trade war with Canada.
Earlier this year, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution to end tariffs on Canada. Under Schumer’s leadership, Senate Democrats are also pushing for tariff exemptions for small businesses and putting an end to Trump’s across-the-board tariffs, and Schumer has co-led amicus briefs in the lawsuit challenging Trump’s authority to levy tariffs. Schumer said ending this costly trade war is key to protecting American businesses from price increases and job losses.
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