Governor Polis and Northern Colorado manufacturers talk tariffs

LOVELAND – Colorado Governor Polis met with manufacturers in Northern Colorado at a roundtable hosted by the Northern Colorado Manufacturing Sector Partnership, to discuss the impacts of President Trump’s tariff taxes on the industry and economy. The Governor was joined by more than 35 manufacturers and 30 industry partners.

Last week, after Mr. Trump nearly started a global trade war and then reversed his threats to enact further tariffs that would raise Americans’ costs, Polis urged Mr. Trump to let his failed tariff tax policy go away for good.

“Today, I heard from Colorado manufacturers who were crystal clear: Trump’s tariff tax increase is bad for our economy, could shutter businesses, and will destroy good-paying jobs, all while raising costs on hardworking Coloradans. The ongoing uncertainty of tariffs being flipped on and off at the whim of the president will continue to worsen the recession and stifle investment. If the president truly cares about American manufacturing, he must ditch these failed tariffs that have already done damage to our economy that could last years,” said Polis.

“The uncertainty of the tariff implementation is making it challenging as we are hearing mixed signals and anxiety from our clients in the electronics industry. We are seeing an uptick in activity to onshore projects from China as our clients are searching for certainty in managing their product costs. We are also watching for early signals of recession due to inflation and economic slowdown, but we are not observing this so far as our production backlog of orders remains strong,” said John Sage, president of Vergent Products.

“America’s workforce is among the most educated and capable in the world—we shouldn’t be using that talent to make low-margin consumer goods like toasters. Instead, we should focus on manufacturing the high-value industrial technologies the world needs to modernize its energy systems. That’s how we build resilient supply chains, strong wages, and durable American leadership in the global economy,” said Addison Stark, CEO of  AtmosZero.