City Council leaders warned on Wednesday that President Trump’s sweeping tariffs could damage Gotham’s economy and place further strain on New Yorkers already struggling to make ends meet. They also called out Mayor Eric Adams for refusing to criticize Trump over the issue.
The escalating series of tariffs between the United States and trading partners like China and the European Union, which Trump set off last week, sent the stock market into a volatile frenzy and caused widespread fear of soaring prices. Tariffs are a tax on foreign imports of everyday items, such as cars and computers, that typically get passed onto consumers.
However, early on Wednesday afternoon, Trump announced a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs on most countries—though he also bumped up reciprocal levies on China by 125%. Even so, news of the pause sent the stock market surging: the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed back above the 40,000 mark after seeing a nearly 3,000-point bump in afternoon trading; the S&P 500 also shot up 9.5% Wednesday, and NASDAQ surged 12.2%.
“Just days after announcing arbitrary worldwide tariffs, Trump’s reversal is yet another example of the constant chaos he is imposing on all of us,” said city Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander in a statement responding to Trump’s reversal.
“This level of uncertainty is bad for markets, bad for the economy, bad for investors, and bad for New York City,” he added.
‘Trump sabotaging our economy’
City Council Speaker and another mayoral candidate Adrienne Adams, during an April 9 news conference before Trump’s announcement, said the president’s tariffs will hurt “small businesses, working families, and everyday New Yorkers.”
“Trump is sabotaging our economy with the largest tax hike in over 50 years,” the speaker said. “This continued chaos, if allowed to continue, will devastate New York City and the entire United States.”
The speaker said once the tariffs are fully implemented, New Yorkers could see spikes in prices for consumer goods like groceries and electronics. She also noted that the tariffs threaten over 260,000 jobs in the city.
“Trump compares this chaos to a bitter pill that we all need to swallow; try telling that to a New Yorker that’s living paycheck to paycheck, try telling that to a family that is already drowning in rent and child care costs,” said City Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan, who was also present at the press conference.
The City Council called for setting aside nearly $2 billion in its Fiscal Year 2026 Preliminary Budget Response to prepare for Trump’s funding cuts. Brannan said the council wants to be ready to plug that money into any funding gaps created by Trump’s sweeping cuts to federal grants and other economic turmoil caused by his policies.
However, Speaker Adams said those funds would not be enough to mitigate the effects of Trump’s tariffs if they ultimately take full effect.
“This will be a self-inflicted injury so severe that no amount of fiscal management can contain it,” the speaker said. “Despite our preparation for economic risks on the city level, we can only do so much to blunt the most devastating consequences.”
Additionally, Brannan said the mayor’s budget office has not yet recognized the $2 billion in revenue, and he said they want to reset it aside. Disputes between the City Council and the mayor’s office over the projected revenue the city has at its disposal have dominated the last few budget cycles and could play a major role again this year.
‘Compromised if not continuing to collude’
Both Speaker Adams and Brannan also criticized the mayor for his tepid comments on the tariffs over the past couple of days. Brannan charged that Mayor Adams is not adequately fighting back against the Trump administration’s aggressive actions targeting the city in the wake of the Justice Department dropping his criminal indictment.
“We have an administration at City Hall that is compromised if not continuing to collude with the federal government,” Brannan said.
The mayor’s reluctance to criticize Trump has become a frequent point of attack by his critics, who allege he is beholden to the Republican president.
For his part, the mayor has said he does not know enough about tariffs despite claiming that he spent much of last weekend reading about them. Nonetheless, he appeared to show general support for Trump’s attempt to shake up the status quo.
“There’s one thing I know: whatever we were doing, it was not working,” Adams said during a Tuesday news conference. “Affordability is an issue for everyday New Yorkers. Wealth has been accumulated in the highest level of people in the country. And I’m seeing low-income, working-class people struggling every day. And so whatever we were doing, we need to think differently.”
