As President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on new tariffs ticks down this summer, uncertainty looms for businesses across western Colorado. The Daily Sentinel spoke with key local leaders to gauge what’s at stake — and how much they stand to lose.

Among those weighing in were two prominent local manufacturers, Reynolds Polymer Technology and Mountain Racing Products, along with Sam Meyer, Western Slope president for Shaw Construction.

Shaw Construction, one of the largest contractors in western Colorado, doesn’t export products — its projects are concentrated in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. But as Meyer points out, that doesn’t shield the company from tariff impacts.

Shaw, he said, faces pressure “virtually up and down the vertical food chain” due to import costs. Tariffs targeting Canadian and Asian materials would hit especially hard.

“Almost everything we touch, to some degree, has an international component on it. From cabinets to the millwork that’s included in the cabinets, a lot of that can be from South Korea, it can be from China. That’s one example of one industry affected by tariffs,” Meyer explained.

A particular concern is wood.

“The wood framing industry, a big aspect of that comes from Canada with the Doug fir,” Meyer said. “There’s a lot of reports in the news about using wood domestically and they always reference southern pine out of the southeast, but in the Rocky Mountain region, the western U.S., we don’t use that wood because it warps and it doesn’t have the same structural integrity as Doug fir. We’re looking at Doug fir from Canada. There’s pockets of Oregon and Wyoming and Montana, but our fear is that when you start playing this tariff game, that goes on and those other domestic mills will sense the blood in the water and maybe start to increase their pricing, as well.”

The uncertainty is rattling project timelines.

Meyer called the situation “extremely stressful” as clients grow hesitant about moving forward with planned construction.

“Quite frankly, nobody knows. I’ve talked to fellow competitors, I’ve talked to higher-ups on the supply side, and everybody doesn’t really understand what that looks like. It creates this fear in the marketplace. We’ve had one client that has permanently postponed one of their projects because of the uncertainty of what the tariffs could do to the pricing,” he said.

Ripple effects are already showing up, he added.

“You start seeing ripple effects. We’ve got a project out of town where they’re using municipal bonds and there’s concern because the bond market’s been up and down along with the stock market here. Those have had some impacts as well. It’s just delayed things because of the uncertainty and fear of what the marketplace is going to do. People just want to know what’s going to happen so they can plan and adjust for it.”

Asked if tariffs might squeeze the supply chain, Meyer noted it’s too early to tell but remains a real concern if Trump reinstates reciprocal measures.

Broader Colorado Trade Impact

Colorado’s government leaders are already fighting back. On April 23, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced that the state had joined a multi-state lawsuit to “block President Trump’s illegal tariffs.” The challenge argues that four of Trump’s executive orders imposing tariffs exceed presidential authority by bypassing Congress.

“The lawsuit explains that under Article I of the Constitution, only Congress has the ‘Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’ ” Weiser’s statement read. “The executive orders cite the powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), but that law applies only when an emergency presents ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ from abroad and does not give the president the power to impose tariffs. Congress enacted IEEPA in 1977. No president had imposed tariffs based on IEEPA until President Trump did so this year.”

The stakes are high.

A recent report from Vectra Bank Senior State Credit Administrator Mark Wright showed Colorado exported a record $10.5 billion in goods in 2024, a dramatic jump from $2.1 billion in 2014. Exports supported an estimated 40,000 jobs in 2022 and accounted for 2% of Colorado’s GDP in 2023.

“Tariffs are awful for Americans and our economy, and it’s important to use every legal tool possible to reduce trade barriers and increase prosperity,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said. “Here in Colorado, tariffs are already hurting Colorado agriculture and small businesses. We will do everything we can legally to prevent tariffs that are bad for businesses and all Americans.”

Originally reported by The Daily Sentinel.