The Trump Administration’s tariff policy will cause $1 billion in potential increased costs to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) plans to upgrade its rolling stock by purchasing new subway cars, commuter rail cars and buses, according to a recent report.
The agency has committed $23 billion to purchase thousands of new vehicles. Current tariffs on specialized components required to build rolling stock dilute the value of MTA’s plan. The $1 billion could purchase 150 new M9-A rail cars, more than 250 subway cars, nearly 1,000 buses and most Metro-North coaches.
Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer following the report to request exemptions to transit rolling stock purchases from the current tariff regime.
“Donald Trump’s reckless trade war does more than just raise prices for New York families, it severely threatens government’s ability to deliver on big, ambitious projects,” Hochul said. “New York’s historic investments in mass transit include plans for the largest improvement to our rail and bus fleet in history, but Trump’s tariffs have created a $1 billion tax on transit and put these improvements at risk. Our entire region depends on the MTA to get around, and this planned investment promises to support thousands of good New York jobs; these reckless tariffs must end now.”