New Reporting Exposes the “Damaging” Cost of Andy Biggs’ Tariff Agenda

New reporting by KOLD in Tucson highlighted the cost-hiking effects that Andy Biggs’ tariff agenda will have on Arizonans, after Canada’s reciprocal tariffs took effect last week.

Ed Ackerley at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management said “a 50% tariff on certain products [raw materials]” is “going to have a damaging effect on the economy here in Arizona,” pointing out the simultaneous cost of war and inflation.

His warnings echo what Arizona business leaders have been saying for months. Todd Sanders, CEO and President of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, said: “We need to call these [tariffs] what they are… these are taxes.” And Arizona Chamber of Commerce CEO — and former Doug Ducey chief of staff — Danny Seiden warned last year that “tariffs are a bad idea” because “the tariffs are paid by us,” with costs “transferred down to the consumer.”

Biggs hasn’t just defended Washington’s tariffs — he voted to keep them in place, pushed to expand them, and called them “a brilliant economic strategy.” Even as prices have continued rising, Biggs has claimed there is “no inflation,” said tariffs are “not inflationary,” and argued that Washington had already “tamed inflation” and “brought everything back down.”

Copper State Victory spokesperson Nicholas Simões Machado said:

“Andy Biggs’ cost-hiking agenda is being paid for by Arizonans, from working families to small businesses. Despite the real burdens of his votes, Biggs continues to defend and expand the very policies driving up everyday costs.”

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