Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Holds Roundtable with Business Leaders and Farmers from the Capital Region Impacted By Trump’s Tariffs, Continues to Call for $13.5 Billion Refund

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul held a roundtable with business leaders and farmers from the Capital Region to hear about the challenges they’ve faced over the past year while navigating the Trump administration’s reckless tariff policies. After the Supreme Court ruled the President’s tariffs unlawful, Governor Hochul immediately called for the federal government to return the $13.5 billion illegally taken from New Yorkers, just like those she met with today. During the conversation, the roundtable participants underscored how the economic chaos coming out of Washington has upended their families’ financial livelihood and made planning for the future impossible.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Here we are in one of my favorite Albany establishments. I'm not a stranger, as Sonya and her son Alejandro can attest. But I want to thank Nine Pin for hosting us and for really just reinvigorating this whole part of our city. And what you did 10 years ago is nothing short of extraordinary and just the vision that your son had – I remember hearing the story coming out of school and a mom who supported his vision and the two of you have just been unstoppable ever since. And so I want to thank Sonya Del Peral for being one of the co-founders, but also our moderator here today, as we have a conversation about a topic that has literally affected every business in the state of New York. I also want to thank Alejandro who's joined us, but also our County Executive Dan McCoy, thank you for being here; our Senator Pat Fahey and our Assembly Member Gabriela Romero.

A great team we have here in the businesses, but also our elected officials who are here to listen to the concerns we all have about the fate of our businesses in this state, in light of the trauma inflicted on so many because of the Trump tariff taxes inflicted about a year ago. And so I think about what we're doing with how to help our farmers and manufacturers, and we're always focused on this at the state level, but then you see what's happening over this past year – it is really quite devastating.

The government's job is to support businesses, help you expand, help you see a path forward, give you the rules of the road, support your employees and really bring prosperity to all of our communities. But right now with what is happening with the federal government, not to mention now your gas costs and your transportation costs are going to go up so dramatically and for whatever length of time, how does a business plan for that? One thing I know about businesses, they just want to know the rules of the road. Give us some certainty. We budget, we think in one-year plans, but also five- and 10-year plans, and the government tries to do the same, but when you have a hostile government in Washington that is just throwing so much chaos into this situation, how is it possible for you to do what you need to do to be prosperous? So that's what we're going to talk about today: the fact that costs are fluctuating – some are absorbing the costs, some have to pass on to customers – but there are additional costs of doing business all across our country because of the tariffs.

The supply chains are shifting. Export markets are changing dramatically, they're tightening. There are places like Canada that are not purchasing our products. Talk to the bourbon manufacturers from Kentucky, I think it's down about 90%. It's hitting our wineries, it's hitting businesses like this. So markets are closing up to us as well as the additional costs of everything coming in from places like Canada.

And it's also, as I mention Canada, these decisions that were made are really hurting some of our closest allies. I was just in Buffalo hosting a similar roundtable, and the connections between communities on the border in particular are so tight. It's one larger community, it’s not even viewed as a foreign country, but yet the costs are going up. The frustration with this country has led to far fewer Canadians coming across the border, about 3.4 million fewer Canadians across the border, and that has an effect on tourism across the state. People will come to the Capital Region.

So I know, for example, Nine Pin, you're committed to New York State apples, right? But your product is more than apples. You're not shipping apples to everybody. You're shipping them in an aluminum can, and that aluminum comes from Canada and your costs have gone up because of that. So everything that you counted on, you were planning last year, was thrown out the window because you now can no longer count on these costs. Some tariffs are as high as 50%. The aluminum in Canada is 50%. So we're going to continue focusing on the impacts.

I was with an apple farmer in Western New York just last week, Jim Bittner, who said he's not sure he should be planting his crop that he needs to see come to fruition in four years because he doesn't know what is going to happen to his business, and fertilizer costs are up. What we're trying to do with the farmers – we have $30 million in tariff relief for our farmers, which I hope to get through the budget with your support leaders, but also a refundable investment tax credit for the farmers, as well as everything else we can do to help businesses.

But I just want to say this, we also filed a lawsuit. I joined 24 states. We're filing a lawsuit and there's the business dynamic, and I'll tell you what I heard from the lawyers in the case that was brought. I was with the plaintiff in the case who was an individual in New York City who brought the lawsuit that the Supreme Court used to strike down these illegal tariffs, and he was stunned. He just had no idea what had happened when the tariffs hit, and he was delighted he won, but what the lawyers for the government said in that case was, “don't worry – if we lose in court, we have a way to refund the money that was collected.” Hear that everybody? Get in line because that money should be coming back to you, tracking what you paid additionally in tariffs. But also how do we help the consumers of New York? The families who spent over $1,700 more because of the tariffs that they never planned for, whether it was their kids' sneakers or backpacks or groceries, or even Christmas gifts this past season.

So we are suing for the $13.5 billion that we believe is owed to us. I want to see that money. I don't care if Donald Trump puts his name on the check. I don't care. Just get it back to New Yorkers because this money is owed to us. So it's a tax you had to deal with, and I want to turn it over to Sonya now to start the conversation so I can hear directly, and our elected officials can hear directly, about the impacts on all of you.

So thank you.