Amid Ongoing Talks of Tariffs and Trade, California Business Leaders Highlight the Critical Importance of California’s Trade and Warehousing to Jobs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2025
Contact: Brooke Armour
916.553.4093

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, California’s leading business organizations that make up the Goods Movement Alliance underscored the vital role of the trade, transportation, and warehousing sectors in supporting California’s economy, national supply chains, and global competitiveness. Following a press conference by Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, the Goods Movement Alliance issued the following statement:

“California is a global trade gateway. One in 51 jobs nationally is supported by the San Pedro Port Complex alone. In addition, we provide more than $300 billion in exports annually, including vital agricultural products that feed people around the world. The warehousing and logistics sector provides over 1 million well-paying jobs for Californians, many of which offer long-term career pathways without requiring a four-year degree. These are essential jobs, the kind of middle-class employment opportunities our state desperately needs. Yet they are increasingly under threat from overregulation, rising costs, and land-use restrictions.

“We agree with Governor Newsom, who today said that certainty is essential for the supply chain and encourage the governor, attorney general, Legislature, and regulators to ensure that California policies support certainty in the supply chain and the jobs it supports during this critically important time.

“For example, the elimination of the state’s Research and Development Tax Credit and veto of the Manufacturing Tax Credit last year further reduce California’s competitive edge. Industrial electricity rates are twice the national average, and gasoline and diesel prices—which are inflation drivers—continue to increase due to state policies and regulations. New at berth requirements implemented by ARB for ships coming into California’s ports have driven up costs for imported goods, including the cost of gasoline blending supplies imported into the state. Last year’s anti-warehousing legislation, AB 98, continues to have an impact on this critically important sector, but we are hopeful that meaningful amendments will be made this year to address some of the more problematic aspects of that law. This year, legislators are trying to limit train length and impose a statewide indirect source rule that will drive costs even higher.

“We appreciate the governor’s remarks today on the importance of this critically important sector of the global economy and backbone of our state’s fiscal health. We respectfully ask the governor and Legislature to consider these and future policy implications as we work together to ensure future certainty in the supply chain and trade-supported jobs.”

This statement was issued by the Goods Movement Alliance, which includes the California Business Roundtable, California Business Properties Association, and Inland Empire Economic Partnership.

-30-