Governor Maura Healey: Trump’s tariffs will cause gas prices and energy bills to skyrocket in Massachusetts 

BOSTON – Governor Maura Healey issued the following statement Monday in response to reports that President Donald Trump intends to levy tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Tuesday. 

“These tariffs were a bad deal last month, and they’re still a bad deal now. President Trump is putting a tax on energy, housing, groceries, cars, electronics, and appliances that we rely on – and we will all pay the price,” said Governor Maura Healey. “At a time when we should be working to lower energy costs, President Trump’s tariffs will cause gas and heating costs to skyrocket on Massachusetts residents and businesses. Donald Trump should be focused on making life easier and more affordable – not picking destructive fights with our allies and largest trading partners that raise costs on everyone. This is a lose-lose that we can’t afford.” 

Healey stated that the impacts of tariffs on Canadian fuels include: 

• If President Trump implements a 25 percent tariff on petroleum and natural gas imports from Canada, the cost could be $910 million a year for Massachusetts consumers and over $2.5 billion for the New England region.  
• Most of the increased costs would be added to charges to gasoline and home heating oil, with Massachusetts customers paying over 20 cents per gallon in extra costs at the pump and for oil deliveries with a 25 percent tariff. 
• If President Trump implements a 10 percent tariff on petroleum and natural gas imports from Canada, the cost could be $370 million a year in Massachusetts alone and over $1 billion for the New England region. 

According to Fox Business, on Monday, Peter Navarro, the White House senior counselor on trade and manufacturing, defended Trump’s stance on the tariffs.

The White House has pointed to fentanyl and other drug trafficking as the reasoning for the tariffs.

“If you think about the problem, it starts in communist China with the precursor chemicals. It comes into Mexico, and they make the fentanyl. But they also have these pill presses. So, they do the counterfeits. And they’re using Canada as a transit hub and secondary point to manufacture as well. So, this is a Canada-Mexico-China thing,” Navarro told CNBC.