'Everyone's costs are going up:' Congressman Sorensen speaks out against Trump's tariffs

NORMAL — Congressman Eric Sorensen is among the lawmakers working to address the new tariff policy he says will be a burden on all taxpayers. After presenting a grant for community-oriented policing to the Normal Police Department Thursday afternoon , the Democrat from Moline spoke to local media about tariffs recently implemented by the Trump administration that have business owners and consumers expressing concern. "People have to understand that these tariffs, these blanket tariffs, are going to affect everyone," Sorensen said.

"Everyone's costs are going up. This is an additional tax on the working-class people of this country, and we have to stand up against it." Illinois joined a dozen other states this week in suing the Trump administration to stop the tariff policy.



The lawsuit challenges President Donald Trump's authority to impose the tariffs, arguing that only Congress has the power to impose tariffs, and the president can only invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act when an emergency presents an "unusual and extraordinary threat" from abroad. The suit, filed Wednesday, asks the court to declare the tariffs illegal and to block government agencies and its officers from enforcing them. Sorensen said he has reached out to several members of Trump's Cabinet to express his and his constituents' concerns and "to make sure that they understand that these have repercussions.

"There's not just my name on it, but 20 other members of Congress. ..

. Whether it's John Deere, or whether it's Rivian, or whether it's State Farm or Precision Planting, tariffs are going to have a huge impact on our way of life." The effect goes beyond the immediate, he said.

"The cost of the tariffs are going to last us 10 years down the road, because these costs will continue to be put onto the burden of the taxpayer." Still, Sorensen finds optimism and hope in his constituency, he said. "Even though I have more constituents that are calling the office and coming up to me and saying that they're worried, they're scared — and that is legitimate today — I'm more optimistic than I was two weeks ago," he said.

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We value one another. We love our diversity here. We love living here, even though people in Washington and Chicago and New York can't figure us out.

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It's a wonderful place.".