- Utah's biggest trade partners face the highest tariffs President Trump imposed.
- The Beehive State imported more than $19 billion in goods from 151 countries last year.
- High tariffs will raise production costs for some companies and make them less competitive.
Countries that import the most goods to Utah in various industries were hit with some of the highest tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on dozens of U.S. allies and adversaries in an unprecedented move.
In 2024, Mexico ($4.8 billion), Canada ($4.74 billion), China ($2.66 billion), Taiwan ($1.55 billion) and Vietnam ($936 million) were the top importers of products for the Beehive State. Those five countries account for more than two-thirds of all products shipped to Utah.
Each of them face hefty new trade levies:
- U.S. tariff rate against China: 34%
- U.S. tariff rate against Taiwan: 32%
- U.S. tariff rate against Vietnam: 46%
Wednesday’s changes to U.S. trade policy came after a series of targeted tariffs that include: 25% on Canadian and Mexican goods not protected by a 2020 trade deal, an additional 10% on all Chinese goods, 25% on all steel and aluminum imports and 25% on cars and car parts, with partial exceptions for automobiles that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The higher tariffs apply to countries with which the U.S. has the highest trade deficits, or the greatest difference between how much the U.S. buys from a trade partner and how much the trade partner buys from the U.S.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he’s “curious and hopeful” about how Trump’s trade measure will work out.
“We were expecting reciprocal tariffs and that’s not what we got. It’s something different than that,” he told reporters Thursday. “We don’t know what the impact is going to be. ... For sure, Utahns are going to feel it. Americans are going to feel it. There will definitely be increases in prices. I mean, that’s just the way tariffs works. How long that lasts and what the final impacts of that I can’t answer.”
Market distortion
Utah last year imported $19.1 billion in goods, including machinery, electronics, automotive products, pharmaceuticals and metals, from 151 countries, according to The Observatory of Economic Complexity. It was the 29th largest importer in the country.
The largest imports by value were unwrought gold ($4.38 billion), data processing parts and accessories ($1.17 billion), voice and data communication machines ($969 million), unspecified commodities ($910 million),and unwrought silver ($864 million).
“That’s a big, big number,” said Natalie Gochnour, an economist and director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. “We’re very engaged in international trade in this state.”
Utah exported $18.2 billion of goods in 2024, making it the 26th largest exporter in the country, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Now, Gochnour said, those markets are being distorted with a tariff or a tax that makes things more expensive and disrupts supply chains.
“Some businesses are really hurt by it and may not survive. A lot of businesses readjust and figure it out,” she said.
Gochnour noted that a lot of Utah companies that import goods are small, perhaps having established a relationship with suppliers to repackage and resell two or three products. Many also import intermediate goods used to make or assemble a finished product domestically, she said.
“So the high tariff will raise the cost of production for those companies and make them less competitive,” she said.
Not so great for the outdoors
The Utah outdoor industry, which hit a record $9.5 billion in 2023, is one that could feel the pinch of Trump’s trade levies.
The tariffs will make it more expensive to make and sell outdoor gear in the U.S., hurting American businesses, workers and consumers, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. Last year, 175.8 million Americans participated in outdoor recreation, an all-time high. But now, many of the products that make those experiences possible are about to get much more expensive.
“These tariffs will raise costs for American manufacturers, retailers and families,” Kent Ebersole, OIA president, said in a statement.
“That’s going to slow growth, put pressure on small and mid-sized outdoor companies, and could force some to close their doors. These tariffs also make it more difficult for global outdoor brands to operate in the U.S. and maintain their American workforce.”
Sorting through the tariffs
The tariff announcement cast Utah businesses into uncertainty as they face potentially overlapping tariffs and how they interact with recent purchases that have yet to enter the country.
“It’s going to take some time to build out our supply chains,” Ben Kolendar, the chief of staff at World Trade Center Utah, told the Deseret News on Wednesday. “And the reality is, we’re going to have to import goods for some time, even if they are more costly.”
World Trade Center Utah is monitoring the shifting trade levies and created a dashboard to help companies in the state navigate the changes.
“Tariffs are shaping the trade environment and will present significant challenges for Utah businesses. Global competitiveness may require rethinking regulation, expanding production that requires investments and tariffs come with risks,” according to its website.
Utah had a trade surplus for total goods in 10 of the 16 years from 2008 through 2023, averaging $4.1 billion before adjusting for inflation. But from 2020 to 2023 the state has run a trade deficit, with total exports ranging from about $19.0 million to $2.5 billion less than total imports, per a 2023 Gardner Institute report.
A Utah company’s take
Global tariffs will have a painful effect on many Utah businesses even if they do not rely directly on imports, said Kim Honeysett, the chief legal officer at Varex Imaging, because U.S. suppliers of parts and raw materials are integrated into “multiple levels of supply chain that will be impacted.”
The Salt Lake City-based company is the only independent manufacturer of medical, industrial and security X-ray imaging technology in the U.S., employing around 1,200 people domestically.
Nearly 70% of the company’s $800 million annual sales come from the export of products, Honeysett told the Deseret News on Wednesday. So in addition to the increased overhead costs Varex will have from tariffs on things like imported housings, there is also the threat of retaliatory tariffs hurting sales, Honeysett said.
While a delayed timeline could help give businesses time to pivot, Honeysett worries Trump’s new tariff policy could have the unintended consequence of pushing companies to leave the U.S. to avoid getting caught up in a trade war.
“Trump talked about bolstering the economy, bringing jobs back to the U.S., increasing manufacturing in the U.S. — one of the real challenges, I think, is it could have the opposite effect,” Honeysett said. “Increased costs associated with supply chain, increased costs to customers, could actually drive U.S. manufacturing overseas, taking American jobs with them.”
Nation’s strongest economy
Despite the upheaval, Utah has arguably the strongest economy in the nation, Gochnour said.
Utah’s gross domestic product growth led the nation in 2024, reaching 4.5%, compared to the nation’s 2.8% growth, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and analyzed by the Gardner Institute.
Also, the state’s GDP surpassed $300 billion for the first time, averaging $301 billion for the year and ending at $308 billion. Statewide personal income grew 6.1% from 2023 to 2024, ranking Utah fourth-highest in the country.
“Utah’s strong economic fundamentals continue to propel robust growth,” Phil Dean, chief economist at the Gardner Institute, said in a statement. “Utah benefits from a young, well-educated population, competitive fiscal and regulatory policies, its geographic location as the Crossroads of the West, a highly diversified economy, and nation-leading social capital. Although not without economic challenges, these strong fundamentals help Utah navigate the ups and downs of the economic cycle.”
Economic forecasting roulette
The president’s tariffs are also causing uncertainty among economists.
“One of the more interesting things going on in the economic world right now is the national forecasters don’t know whether to put these in their forecasts or not because of the on-again, off-again (tariffs) and because of this president’s reputation and, honestly, his skill at negotiating,” Gochnour said.
To some extent, they see it as posturing to get different trade agreements put in place, particularly in Mexico and Canada and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, she said.
Gochnour said a lot of economists don’t know what to think but “if you just think about it logically, we’re on recession watch.”
“We have a strong national economy and local economy but we’re on recession watch from the standpoint of what’s happening in consumer sentiment, what’s happening in policy uncertainty, the fact that inflation has not come under control, so there’s a lot of consternation,” Gochnour said. “If it starts to create more difficulty for them, then we’ll change direction.”
Contributing: Brigham Tomco