Governor Gavin Newsom said he’s seeking exemptions for California-made products from retaliatory tariffs and wants to open talks with global allies over new trade relationships, casting the state as a buffer against the fallout of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan.

In a post on X on April 4, Newsom said that he has directed his administration to reassure allies that “California remains a stable trading partner,” even as Trump pushes for a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports and steeper tariffs for some nations.

“Donald Trump’s tariffs do not represent all Americans,” Newsom said. “TO OUR TRADING PARTNERS AROUND THE GLOBE — California is here and ready to talk.”

TO OUR TRADING PARTNERS AROUND THE GLOBE — California is here and ready to talk. We will not sit idly by during Trump’s tariff war.We make up 14% of the U.S. GDP. We're the 5th largest economy in the world. We’re not scared to use our market power to fight back against the… pic.twitter.com/yTfbcWW1sO

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 4, 2025

When contacted for comment, Newsom’s office declined to provide specifics on outreach to countries or policies his administration is pursuing. His office didn’t provide additional details on how California would navigate the constitutional limits on states negotiating their own trade terms. While Newsom cannot enter binding international agreements with foreign nations, the governor can pursue informal partnerships and export promotion efforts such as state-led trade missions.

Newsom said during the latest episode of his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, released on Friday that foreign leaders had contacted him ahead of Trump’s tariff announcement this week.

“Foreign leaders have reached directly out to California to express that anxiety and concern from a sub-national level, and look to engage us directly with all the volatility and the uncertainty,” Newsom told guest Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital who briefly was Trump’s communications director in 2017.

Newsom, a Democrat, is considered a likely candidate to run for president in 2028.

California accounts for roughly 14% of the nation’s gross domestic product and ranks as the fifth-largest economy in the world. Newsom said that economic weight — paired with the state’s population of 40 million —  gives California leverage on the global stage. 

But it also makes California more vulnerable to global trade disruptions, particularly as major U.S. trading partners begin to retaliate. On April 4, China announced it would impose a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports starting April 10, mirroring the rate of Trump’s proposed “reciprocal” tariffs. A day earlier, Canada said it would tax U.S. auto imports in response to Trump’s move to slap new tariffs on foreign-made cars.

The state is a key player in agriculture and U.S. manufacturing, including semiconductors, computer equipment and vehicles — sectors that are being targeted in the trade dispute. 

California exported $24 billion in agricultural goods in 2022, nearly 13% of total U.S. farm exports. Almonds topped the list at $4.7 billion, followed by dairy products, pistachios and wine. Top buyers include Canada, the European Union, China and Hong Kong.

Richard Kreps, head of the American Pistachio Growers industry group, said growers are in regular contact with California’s Republican congressional delegation to shape trade policy around the crop. He was skeptical of Newsom’s latest push.

“It’s just platitudes until there’s action,” said Kreps. “There’s two different groups of people in agriculture right now — those that are in panic mode and those of us that know we still have four-and-a-half months before we have to harvest.”

In the X post, Newsom linked to a Fox News report citing a senior administration official who said the state is concerned about rising rebuilding costs after January’s wildfires around Los Angeles and the potential for trade disruptions in the California-Baja border region. 

Much of the manufacturing in that area depends on cross-border supply chains, where components often travel back and forth between factories several times before becoming finished products.