[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 71 (Tuesday, April 29, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H1689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GREAT LAKES, TARIFFS, AND TRADE

  (Ms. Kaptur of Ohio was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the House Great Lakes Task 
Force, I rise today to speak on behalf of our Great Lakes region.
  My part of it is the Ninth District of Ohio that stretches all the 
way from Bryan, Ohio, all the way across the northern part of Ohio 
through Toledo, all the way to Sandusky and down to Fremont, Ohio, 
passing through places like Rossford, Perrysburg, Defiance, Ohio, and 
so many other beautiful places.
  Our hardworking families depend on the Great Lakes not just for their 
livelihoods but for our way of life. They are the largest freshwater 
body on the face of the Earth, and we take the responsibility for 
tending that seriously.
  The Great Lakes form the beating heart of our regional economy. They 
support hundreds of thousands of jobs, from the auto and steel 
industries, manufacturing to shipping, farming to fishing, and tourism 
to technology.
  Our freshwater coast is a national treasure, and it is also a global 
economic engine, the third largest economy in the world that we share 
with Canada. We work on this together. We have from the beginning.

  The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative--or some people call it the 
GLRI--has been a bipartisan lifeline and a vital investment that has 
brought over $3.7 billion to our complex ecosystem to restore our 
wetlands, to clean up toxic waste in hotspots, and to protect our fresh 
drinking water. It is complex with lots of industry, lots of 
agriculture, lots of people, and lots of freshwater.
  We must fully fund the GLRI. Every dollar brings back four to our 
economy, and that just makes common sense.
  Let me be clear to this new administration: Keep your hands off our 
lakes. We will not stand by while shortsighted proposals gut the 
programs that have protected our water, our health, and our jobs. I 
would urge the President, while he is in Michigan, to go visit Flint, 
Michigan, and look at what we have to do to restore enterprise and 
freshwater across our region.
  Mr. Speaker, currently, our Great Lakes economy is being choked by 
reckless tariffs and inside-out trade policies that hit us hard, 
including the district I represent in northwest Ohio. It hits our 
pocketbooks and it hits the balance sheets of thousands of companies.
  Take a drive through the Port of Toledo. You will see mountains of 
aluminum and steel stockpiled, stalled, waiting. Waiting for what? Our 
workers and small businesses are paying the price for a trade war that 
didn't need to start, and we certainly can't win as a joint economy.
  Our region, the Great Lakes region, we share with Canada. What is all 
of this commotion for? Tariffs on Canada, our friend--I underline 
that--and ally, mind you--the Trump tariffs have inflated costs across 
our industries, including auto manufacturing, crushing competitiveness 
in an industry that has long been the pride of northern Ohio and for 
which we have struggled for 40 years to reinvest in.
  In Sandusky, in Perrysburg, in Warren, Michigan, in Windsor, Ontario, 
and across the industrial belt, plants are being squeezed or idled, 
shifts are being cut, and paychecks are being threatened.
  It doesn't stop there. Tariffs on Canadian lumber, potash, and energy 
have disrupted supply chains our region relies on. It is our life beat.
  Construction costs are soaring. Eight percent for a mortgage, who can 
afford that? Farmers can't access the nutrients they need, and they are 
in the planting mode right now. The tractors are going into the fields.
  As mortgage interest rates rise, we need Canadian lumber. The cost of 
housing is through the roof. Energy bills climb higher and higher. This 
is not economic patriotism. This isn't putting America first. It is 
self-inflicted damage. Somebody doesn't understand where these lakes 
exist. We share them with Canada.
  Trump tariffs on the U.S. and Canada put our workers not first but 
put them last. Rising prices for consumers are hitting us hard across 
the board.
  Let's not forget tourism, one of our region's most vital and 
underestimated economic engines. Lake Erie supports billions of dollars 
of recreational boating and sports fishing, along with a boating 
industry second to none. We share it with Canada. Cedar Fair, with 
Cedar Point, the roller coaster capital of the world, draws millions, 
including from Canada, and they are boycotting our facilities right 
now. Tourism generates billions.
  I ask the President, please, while he is in Michigan, to review how 
damaging his tariffs are to our Great Lakes nation.

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