Addressing the Impact of Tariffs on Local Businesses

Earlier today, Governor Hochul visited a local business in the Village of Cazenovia to highlight her demands for federal tariff refunds. The Governor is calling on the Trump Administration to refund $13.5 billion in tariff payments owed to New Yorkers, an estimated $1,751 per household.

B-ROLL: B-Roll of the Governor visiting Meier’s Creek Brewing Co. in the Village of Cazenovia is available to stream on Youtube here and TV quality is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr posted photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's conversation is available below:

Dave Pollock, Feldmeier:  I'm the Chief Revenue Officer of Feldmeier. Obviously, we own Meier’s Creek, but our main business is the manufacturing of those tanks and all that equipment, and what you probably don't know is, in New York State, we're the largest sanitary vessel manufacturer in the world.

Governor Hochul: Is that right?

Dave Pollock, Feldmeier: In the world. We have three plants in New York. 482 employees total. 85 percent of them are based in New York. We also have the manufacturing plant in Iowa and one in Alabama. So we're significant, we're a good size and the good news is business is good.

Governor Hochul: Glad to hear that. My concern for businesses while traveling around the state is that when you are doing your planning and your decisions on how to expand and whether you're going to add more staff, one uncertainty now, in the last year, has been tariffs. So tell me what this has done to a company like yours where some of your plants – you get materials from overseas, the raw materials – have you seen an additional cost for doing business?

Dave Pollock, Feldmeier: Certainly. When I was asked this, I did my, somewhat, level of preparation to talk about tariffs, and it really has affected us three ways. The majority of the raw material we buy, though it does come from the US, there are mills in the US — so we probably buy 90 percent of that material here — 10 percent we do buy from overseas, which were affected by tariffs, so obviously we have to pass that along to the customer. And our customers are major pharmaceuticals, food: Nestle, Amgen, Bristol Myers, Lilly, all of that. Those are our customers, so we have to pass that along. But secondarily to that, in the last 18 months, we've spent $32 million on plants and equipment. Half of that $32 million, 16 of it, was machinery to go make that product out there. Unfortunately, the majority of that comes from overseas, the good equipment. So we're paying tariffs on that.

Governor Hochul: There's so many different touch points, where tariffs are affecting you.

Dave Pollock, Feldmeier: They are. It costs more money. And what we have to do is, here's an unusual one and I don't know if this is going to make sense, we get paid to worry in business. That's what we do. And you probably get paid to worry about the government. I worry about if tariffs continue, will a company from China, let's say, come here and open up shop, do what we do? That might be great because they're employing US citizens, but what if they're subsidized by the government of China? That would be unfair competition. That's what I worry about. I concern myself with that, but we have to pass all these prices along to the customer, so eventually the prices have to go up.

Governor Hochul: So what I'm trying to do is — in recognition of the Supreme Court declaring tariffs an illegal scheme because it was not approved by Congress, which is required — they struck down the tariffs, but so many tariffs have already been collected in the last year. New York State, I'm calculating families alone who’ve had to pay an average of $1,700 more per family in costs: everything from kids sneakers and backpacks to their Christmas toys to the groceries they buy.

But that's separate even from the large and small businesses that have had to decide either to absorb the cost themselves or pass it on. So we're filing a claim for the money I want back to New York, but individual businesses are now pursuing claims to get the money back from the federal government, because this was all wrong. It never should have been set up this way. And is that something that you're talking about as well?

Dave Pollock, Feldmeier: Oh, sure. We certainly don't want to pay a higher price because we do pass it along to our customers, but is that going to affect their ability to sell product and expand and do all that? And if there's money coming back, we can certainly use it. We're spending money to expand and the more money we have to spend, we're going to invest it here in New York State.

Governor Hochul: Okay. That's good to know.

Dave Pollock, Feldmeier: Appreciate your time and thank you for coming.

Governor Hochul: As I tour businesses across the State of New York over the last year convening round tables — I was just in Amherst, New York — talking to businesses that have been affected by tariffs and the higher cost either they have to absorb or pass on to their customers, I decided to come here to Central New York and talk at this incredible place, a very well established brewery here to ask Dave, the Chief Revenue Officer, who knows what have been the effects of the tariffs on a business like his. And it's big.

Dave Pollock, Feldmeier: It has an impact.

Governor Hochul: Yeah. You're paying more. You're having to pass more on your customers, and so I'm continuing my efforts to get New York State reimbursed because these Trump tariff taxes have been nothing but an illegal scheme, and the money is owed to New Yorkers, families and businesses and we want that money returned.

Alright cheers to that. Let’s get our money back. Money back for New Yorkers.