As tariffs become part of presidential debate, many in NC seek a measured approach

Former President Donald Trump said if elected in November he’ll expand the tariffs that he imposed during his presidency. North Carolina has a booming economy that’s deeply entwined with global trade. Now many are calling for a careful approach to the international economy.

When he talks about tariffs, Donald Trump may be vague on specifics but his intent is clear: He wants to punish countries like China that he says give their companies an unfair advantage. 

“We're going to use tariffs to take advantage of our great strength and to frankly, hurt countries that are hurting us and have been hurting us on trade for many, many years,” he said.

That’s a line in his recent appearance in North Carolina’s deeply red Randolph County. The area is poised for a manufacturing boom with the addition of a Toyota electric vehicle battery plant and other new factories planned nearby.

Skylar Jon Nelson of Winston-Salem attended the rally and he likes the idea of tariffs to boost domestic production.

"If you look at like just buying nicknacks and little things, almost every one of those things say ‘Made in China,'" he says. "And I wonder how many things in China say ‘Made in America.’”

But many in North Carolina, including Republicans, worry about potential downsides. Tariffs are taxes that governments charge on imports. That can raise prices for shoppers here in the United States. It can also lead to retaliation from other countries, who often slap tariffs of their own on U.S. exports.

Even so, the Biden administration has stuck with them, to the surprise of many economists. Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan on existing tariffs is unclear. But, she says Trump’s plan would raise prices.

Republican Dale Folwell is the state treasurer and previously represented Forsyth County in the legislature. He’s proud that North Carolina has been a top destination for new businesses in recent years, and feels anything that could interfere with that trend should be fully vetted.

"Things like tariffs are not something that should just be bandied around in anyone's political speech," he says. "It has to be carefully thought out, because no one ever wins a war, especially a tariff war." 

Someone else calling for a measured approach is Andy Counts. He’s CEO of the American Home Furnishings Alliance in High Point, a trade association for the state’s furniture industry. He says tariffs can help companies that make and sell in the United States. 

But for those U.S. companies who produce overseas for the American market, the first round of tariffs led many companies to shift production to other Southeast Asian countries. Counts says additional across-the-board tariffs could once again cause a disruption.

"It would have a huge impact if Trump were to be elected and take those tariffs into Vietnam and other countries as a result of those supply chains being moved,” he says.

Layna Mosley is a political economist who spent most of the Trump administration working at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She’s now at Princeton. She considers tariffs bad policy.

“You do something to protect your economy, and your trade partners respond by doing the same thing," she says. "So it kind of gets us into a world in which everyone's got higher trade barriers, but nobody's really better off."

She says that could be especially hard on North Carolina industries like pork, tobacco and pharmaceuticals.

"My sense is that we get better outcomes for everyone if countries try to work together to solve those problems, as opposed to taking this kind of unilateral, imposing tariffs on your trading partners," she says.

Folwell, the state treasurer, wants a level playing field for North Carolina products. But he worries about the unintended consequences of tariffs.

"There's always a benefit in the companies in North Carolina being able to operate in a state that has a low-cost place to live and do business," he says. "When we have things nationally like tariffs go on, it can have a potential of offsetting some of the good things that we've done in our state. "

North Carolina is considered to be a key swing state in the coming election. Trump won the state in 2020 with fewer than 2% of the vote.