Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday he’s seeking direct trade agreements with foreign governments to spare his state from retaliation tied to President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs.
Newsom said he instructed state officials to pursue independent trade relationships with countries hit by the tariffs and urged them to exempt California-made goods from retaliatory measures, according to a press release. The governor made his pitch by appealing to the state’s economic footprint, and by distancing himself from Trump’s trade policy.
“Donald Trump’s tariffs do not represent all Americans, particularly those that I represent here in the fifth-largest economy world: the state of California,” Newsom said. “We value international trade. We value our manufacturing base — the largest manufacturing economy in the United States of America … I remind all of our international trading partners: California is stable trading partner, and we hope you consider that as it relates to California-made products.”
TO OUR TRADING PARTNERS AROUND THE GLOBE — California is here and ready to talk.
We will not sit idly by during Trump’s tariff war.
We make up 14% of the US GDP. We’re the 5th largest economy in the world.
We’re not scared to use our market power to fight back against the… pic.twitter.com/yTfbcWW1sO
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 4, 2025
The governor’s comments come in response to the president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which were rolled out Wednesday as part of the administration’s latest effort to impose reciprocal import duties on nations it accuses of unfair trade practices. The sweeping package targets China, the European Union, South Korea, India and several others — many of whom have already threatened counter-tariffs on U.S. exports.
“California is ready to talk,” Newsom wrote, characterizing the tariffs as “the largest tax hike in our lifetime.”
Trump has framed the tariffs as a means to reviving American manufacturing, calling the economy before he took office “a patient that was very sick.”
“This was a patient that was very sick … We’ve lost 90,000 plants since NAFTA, and about 6 million jobs. It was a sick patient. It went through an operation on Liberation Day. And it’s going to be a booming country,” the president said Thursday.
.@POTUS: “This is a patient that was very sick… We’ve lost 90,000 plants since NAFTA… and about 6 million jobs. It was a sick patient. It went through an operation on Liberation Day. And it’s going to be a booming country.” pic.twitter.com/IHoNZ3VSqg
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 3, 2025
China announced a 34% tariff on all American goods, while Canada responded with a 25% tariff on vehicles imported from the U.S. to “develop a framework for auto producers that incentivizes production and investment in Canada.”
Some unions have celebrated the “Liberation Day” tariffs, with Shawn Fain, president of United Auto Workers, lauding the measures as a “tool in the toolbox to get these companies to do the right thing, and the intent behind it is to bring jobs back here,” he said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“There’s two parts to the tariffs though … We have to fix the broken trade laws. And the other thing to me is … they got to be good paying union jobs that set standards,” Fain continued.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 2,200 points, or 5.5%, while the Nasdaq dropped 5.6% and the S&P 500 fell by 5.8% on Friday.
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