Relating to A National Emergency By the President on February 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.J. Res. 72, the resolution to terminate President Trump's tariffs on Canada.

Families in San Antonio and across this country are already struggling with the rising cost of living. The price of everything is going up: groceries, housing, childcare, and rent. When you go to the grocery store, Mr. Speaker, beef prices are up 16 percent, and coffee is up nearly 20 percent.

Instead of lowering costs, the President imposed tariffs on Canada, which is nothing more than a tax on American families, and started a trade war with one of our closest allies. Those tariffs don't just hurt American families. They threaten jobs in places like my hometown of San Antonio. Nearly one-half, 48 percent, of San Antonio's exports go to Canada, the highest share of any major city in the country.

Our economy is deeply tied to North American supply chains. Thousands of San Antonians work in aerospace, automotive manufacturing, energy, machinery, semiconductors, and medical devices, exactly the high-paying industries we want to be growing here in the United States.

These companies chose San Antonio because we are highly integrated into trade networks with Canada and Mexico. When tariffs go up, local businesses pay the price. When Canada retaliates, it becomes harder for our workers to sell their products abroad.

This trade war is making life more expensive, creating uncertainty and putting good jobs at risk, all while the world continues to move around us. Congress has constitutional authority over tariffs. We must use it here and now. Let's lower costs for American families, protect jobs in San Antonio and across America, and end this reckless trade war.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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