Arizona’s US senators discuss tariffs during Chamber of Commerce event

PHOENIX — Arizona’s U.S. senators practically mirrored each other in remarks to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce on Friday, but they slightly deviate on one topic: tariffs.

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema applauded President Donald Trump lifting tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

“Removing those tariffs will help us move forward with the USMCA,” she said, referring to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, during a luncheon at the Arizona Biltmore.

“I’m still real down on all the tariffs with China. That’s not good for us.”

Sinema and Martha McSally, her Republican counterpart, said American consumers will pay for the tariffs in the products they purchase.

McSally doesn’t like possible extra Chinese tariffs, either, but understands why the Trump administration is threatening to impose them.

“We were trying to get some negotiating space,” she said. “We were hoping for a breakthrough in the last few weeks. It looks like China reneged on some of the things they had previously agreed to.”

Both Senators want Congress to beat politics and approve the new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. Its supporters say it will modernize intellectual property rules, and trade and labor standards.

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