Jackson Jambalaya

In a move his administration says is aimed at impeding the flow of illegal immigration and fentanyl, President Donald Trump on Feb. 1 announced the imposition of tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico – some of the nation’s top trading partners.

Those countries are also some of Mississippi’s leading trading partners. The new tariffs are to take effect on Feb. 4. Trump set a 25% tariff on the import of products from neighboring Canada and Mexico while putting a 10% tariff on the import of products from China. Energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% tariff.

The announcement of the U.S. tariffs set off swift threats of reprisals from both Canada and Mexico. The White House reported clauses in the U.S. tariffs that allow U.S. tariff increases if there are reprisals from the impacted nations that are almost certain to happen.

Mexico, the nation’s largest trading partner, accounts for 16% of U.S. trade while Canada represents 14% and China 11%, according to U.S. government sources. Those imports represent over $1 trillion in goods.

So how does President Trump’s new tariffs impact Mississippi’s trade? The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) reports that Mississippi exported $1.1 billion in goods while importing $1.86 billion. Mississippi exports refined petroleum, medical instruments, telephones, other coloring materials, and chemical wood pulp. The state’s primary imports are crude petroleum, petroleum bitumen, parts, pig iron (non-alloy), and medical & surgical instruments. Mississippi’s $9 billion agriculture production is led by poultry, forestry, soybeans, livestock, cotton, corn, and catfish, according to the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

OEC reports Mississippi’s top export partners in 2024 as Panama ($152 million), Mexico ($142 million), Canada ($141 million), Netherlands ($70 million) and Honduras ($53 million) and the state’s top import partners as Mexico ($269 million), China ($267 million), Venezuela ($166 million), Canada ($120 million) and Vietnam ($116 million). The American Farm Bureau initially expressed concern over the impact of the tariffs on farmers and ranchers in a letter to President Trump:

“Last year, the U.S. exported over $30 billion in agricultural products to Mexico, $29 billion to Canada and $26 billion to China – our top three markets by value combined for half of total agricultural exports. Any effort to impose additional tariffs on these nations’ imports runs the risk of significant retaliatory measures against U.S. agricultural exports.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also reacted strongly to news of the new tariffs:

“The President is right to focus on major problems like our broken border and the scourge of fentanyl, but the imposition of tariffs under IEEPA is unprecedented, won’t solve these problems, and will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains. The Chamber will consult with our members, including main street businesses across the country impacted by this move, to determine next steps to prevent economic harm to Americans.” In rural states, the immediate reaction seems fear of short-term price increases for consumers and concern that promised benefits – like the return of jobs from Mexico – may well take an extraordinarily long time to come to fruition.

The right-of-center Tax Foundation, which primarily expresses Libertarian economic opinions, had this to say regarding the new tariffs:

“We estimate the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on China proposed to go into effect as early as February 1 would shrink economic output by 0.4 percent and increase taxes by $1.2 trillion between 2025 and 2034 on a conventional basis, amounting to an average tax increase of more than $830 per U.S. household in 2025.” Trump signaled the tariffs often during his 2024 campaign.

CORRECTION – In last week’s column about the death of Pete Johnson, I misreported Jim Eastland’s path to the U.S. Senate. As several longtime readers reminded me, “Big Jim” never lost an election. Here’s the correct sequence: In 1941, Gov. Paul Johnson appointed Eastland, Sr., to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy caused by the death of incumbent Democrat Pat Harrison. Eastland served the interim term but was not a candidate in the special election to fill the vacancy won by Democrat Wall Doxey - but in 1942, Eastland successfully challenged Doxey for a full Senate term and held the seat until his retirement in 1978.

Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.