MODESTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Rep. Adam Gray (D-Merced) were guests this week of the Modesto Chamber of Commerce, and their message was clear: President Donald Trump’s tariff are not working.

Gray, who spoke Friday to more than two dozen members of the chamber’s Government Relations Council, was touching base with constituents on a trip back to his 13th Congressional District.

Bonta’s stopover on Thursday was more of a fact-finding mission. He’d requested a meeting with about a dozen members of the local agriculture, business, and health care communities — he’d conducted similar meetings throughout the state — to garner feedback on how tariffs are affecting California, which is one of 24 states to sue the Trump administration over its new justification for the president’s wide-ranging tariffs.

Bonta is co-leading a lawsuit with the attorneys general of Oregon, Arizona, and New York. They say Trump’s use of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — which he invoked after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was unconstitutional — is also illegal.

“In California, we’re the fourth largest economy in the world,” said Bonta, who has served as the state’s attorney general since 2021. “We’re the largest importer of any state; we’re the second-largest exporter of any state, we’re the largest exporter of ag, which is an important point here since we’re here in the Central Valley. And because we’re so big, the tariffs have a big impact on us.”

Gray, covered more ground during his visit to Modesto. In addition to addressing tariffs, the first-term Congressman addressed the conflict in Iran, which has led directly to rising fuel prices, as well as the subjects agriculture, health care, immigration, the Save Act, and the overall divisiveness on Capitol Hill. But tariffs were a topic of interest for many in attendance — especially those who attended both events.

“I know some citrus growers that lost a massive contract with a Canadian grocery store chain, which is now sourcing through Portugal,” said Gray. “And it’s probably not coming back to us for a long time. It’s trade policy, but it’s also consumer sentiment.

“Look at wine industry. Gallo is very important, obviously, to our local economy. But you can’t find American wine on Canadian shelves. That’s a huge problem.”

Still, Gray remained positive that bipartisanship cooperation in Washington is not a thing of the past.

“I think we’ve gone kind of a skid,” said Gray. “We’ve gone from questioning each other’s ideas to questioning each other’s character. And when you question somebody’s character, it becomes awfully hard to have a conversation about solution.

“But I’m fond of a quote of quote by former President Clinton: ‘There’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what’s right with America.’”

The Modesto Chamber of Commerce’s regular Government Relations Council meeting (third Friday of each month) and its Economic Development Committee meeting (first Wednesday of each moth) are open to the public, according to chamber President and CEO Trish Christensen.

“It’s a long standing tradition here at the chamber,” said Christensen. “We’ve always wanted to be able to create safe, trusted spaces to bring elected officials and key individuals into the business community that maybe wouldn’t have an opportunity to sit in a room and listen to their congressman. It takes time to build that trust with our elected officials, and I’m really proud of the work we’ve done on that in the last five or six years. They all come in and speak in our office now.”