Virginia’s international trade totals over $70 billion in annual economic activity. The future of how President Doanld Trump’s tariff policies could impact that activity was the subject of a meeting held in Richmond Tuesday.
Stephanie Agee with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership said it would take some time for the impacts to be felt. According to insights shared as part of a VEDP Advisory Committee on International Trade meeting Tuesday, Virginia’s imports spiked last year likely due to concerns over the tariffs we’re facing now.
Agee, who's responsible for helping medium and small businesses across the Commonwealth grow their markets overseas, said long-term tariffs would impact Virginia consumers eventually.
“Every country of significance is impacted by at least a 10% increase in tariffs, so there’s a concern there,” she warned, noting Virginia’s biggest trading partners — China, Canada and Mexico — are among those hit.
In numbers presented at Tuesday’s meeting, Virginia’s largest exports by value included coal briquettes at around $3.8 billion and soybeans and integrated circuits totaling nearly $1.3 billion. Mechanical appliances and electrical machinery totaling about $15 billion were the state’s largest imports.
According to a presentation by Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg international trade attorney David Olave, tariffs for China, Mexico and Canada start between 10 to 30 percent on over $12 billion in goods imported to Virginia, but certain products and qualifiers could increase that number — sometimes by a lot.
“It’s going to create headaches and price increases,” Olave said of the trade tool many say is passed on to the consumer.
Trump first declared his tariffs were intended to return manufacturing to the U.S., but now his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at their use as a negotiating tool.
“Trump has created maximum leverage for himself," Bessent told Meet the Press Sunday.
Uncertainty about the tariffs' future was seen by Agee as well.
“It’s very early days,” she said. “A lot could change between now and when we see prices actually change.”
If the former happens, committee chair, Southside Virginian and former Universal Corp. VP Mike Ligon hopes international companies could move to Virginia — maybe even finding room in his former home turf.
“That’s a great opportunity to build economic development in that area,” the Lunenburg County native told Radio IQ.
Agee is optimistic, too.
“If the tariffs do stick around, hopefully there would be plenty of motivation to set up operations in rural Virginia,” she said.
But Olave warned of a more complicated outcome.
"There is a little bit of a contradiction," he said. "If [Trump] starts making trade deals, does that take away from inviting investors into the U.S.? If you're an investor, do you invest or not?"
Numbers presented to the committee Tuesday lag by about two months. That means data on Trump’s tariffs, slated to kick in Wednesday, won't be available till later this summer.
But consumers might feel them sooner.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
