U.S. Sen. Patty Murray walked Vancouver’s Main Street to hear from small businesses how the Trump tariff war is affecting them while seeing federal investments into downtown corridors thriving.
During the visit to downtown Vancouver, leaders at the City of Vancouver explained how federal investment into the city has helped lay the groundwork for thriving small businesses and spurred other construction and renovation projects in the downtown core. The City of Vancouver has been working on a 20-year revitalization effort that Murray helped kickstart by securing initial federal funding for the Waterfront Redevelopment Project in 2009, a press release by her office stated.
The Main Street Promise Project marks the first major infrastructure project in over 100 years on Main Street in Vancouver. The project includes the modernization of sewer, water utilities, gas lines, revamped sidewalks, street trees, lighting, and more.
The Main Street Promise Project is one of the last phases of the revitalization effort in Vancouver and was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
“We wanted to get all of this done before we built an I-5 bridge,” Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle told reporters, adding that major construction will occur after businesses close for the day to keep them thriving during the process. “Without the ARPA funding, we would never have done it. That’s why it took all this time to do it with those funds.”
McEnerny-Ogle said the federal funding freeze had not altered the Main Street Promise Project but said the freezes did affect remodeling at Smith Tower, an affordable retirement community in downtown Vancouver.
The release stated that Murray played a leading role in crafting as then-Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The major reconstruction project on Main Street broke ground in December 2024—with original planning work done in 1993 with the goal of improving the heart of Vancouver. The Main Street Promise Project will reconstruct Main Street to provide a safe, accessible, and connected transportation system to support existing small businesses along Main Street and attract more visitors to Downtown Vancouver.
Murray said other cities can utilize the efforts in Vancouver as an example for their downtown revitalizations or expansions.
“Well, certainly, as we see the progress here, we can then show this really helps businesses,” Murray told reporters. “It helps economic development. It helps jobs, it helps people come to this community, the safety and security that will result as a result of this will help other cities see that vision and be able to do the same thing.”
Murray also heard from small business owners and local leaders about how the Trump administration’s trade war is leading to serious uncertainty for businesses, consumers, and communities across Southwest Washington. Trump is currently taxing goods from every country, including close allies like Canada, at a minimum 10% tariff rate across the board. He has significantly escalated his trade war with China, with 145% tariffs on Chinese goods — meaning higher prices and serious pain for families and small businesses across the country, the release stated.
Even with his 90-day “pause” on reciprocal tariffs, Trump’s new tariffs are still the highest tariff rates in decades and are estimated to cost American families more than $4,000 per year, making it the largest tax increase since 1968, Murray’s office stated.
Murray visited Ronald Records on Main Street, which gets a large number of new vinyl records from the Czech Republic, and they were uncertain as to how tariffs may affect them and their pricing. Also, Murray visited the stationary store Eryngium Papeterie, which gets a lot of products from Canada and believes their prices will be affected in their next order, but as the tariffs go up and down, the effect is unpredictable.
