Trump’s 10% Tariff Could Harm Louisiana’s Job Market

Since stepping back into the Oval Office the 47th President Donald Trump has made his intentions of creating tariffs clear. Fellow Republican lawmakers have also made it clear that tariffs will cause "short-term pain" for Americans, so how bad will this "short-term" be for Louisiana?

A 10% tariff is what President Trump has created for all imported goods coming to the U.S. unless the goods come from one of over 50 different countries that have been given anywhere for as much as 50%.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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One of the reasons Trump has raised the tariff for some countries over others was for countries like Mexico and Canada who already warned Trump if he would place tariffs on them, they would place an equal tariff on American goods.

Retaliation Tariffs May Kill Louisiana Jobs

Tariffs have been a part of business for thousands of years, going all the way back to ancient Greece. A common practice since the start of tariffs has been to place tariffs on a country in retaliation for them placing their own tariffs, and this is exactly what we see today with Canada, Mexico, and several more countries joining to fight Trump's tariff plan.

If tariffs do go forward from other countries it's likely American goods will not be exported as much, and of course not sell as much. This would be a major blow to Louisiana which is the 4th largest state exporter. In 2024 the state brought in $42.8 of revenue from exports, supporting over 150,000 jobs.

Only one of Louisiana's 5 export customers snuck by Trump with a bare minimum 10% tariff, the rest given higher rates because of unfair trade balances.

Here are Louisiana's 5 biggest customers from 2022 and what percent they'd have to pay under Trump's new tariffs: