Backroom Briefing: Weekly political notes from The News Service of Florida.
By Jim Turner ©2025 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — State lawmakers are watching to see how President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada and Mexico trickles down to Florida, particularly the citrus industry.
Florida Senate President Ben Albritton, a citrus grower from Wauchula, said Tuesday the impact could be “pro and con” for the state’s agricultural industry.
“What it could do is it could provide Florida farmers more of a domestic marketplace, because they would be more competitive with foreign producers. And if that is what happens, that’s a big deal,” Albritton said.
But he also said, “It could work on the other side of that sword, that double-edge sword, sure. It certainly could.”
On Monday, Trump confirmed a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, with a 10 percent tariff placed on Chinese goods. The countries are three of the United States’ largest agricultural trading partners.
Canada has included fresh and dried oranges and grapefruit among items subject to initial retaliatory tariffs.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs, added in a news release Tuesday that additional items facing tariffs include frozen orange juice and grapefruit juice.
“As a result of the tariffs imposed by the U.S., Americans will pay more at grocery stores and gas pumps, and potentially lose thousands of jobs,” the news release said. “U.S. tariffs will also disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship and violate the Canada-U.S.- Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement that was renegotiated by President Trump in his last term.”
The White House contends tariffs are needed to force Canada and Mexico to halt illegal immigration and fentanyl and other drugs from reaching the United States.
Potentially helping Florida growers is that Mexico is a major exporter to the U.S. of products such as watermelons, tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, bell peppers, mangoes and squash.
JUST SAYING ‘STOP’
Sen. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, wants to allow Floridians to bring legal action against candidates and political committees that continue to make calls and send text messages when told to stop .
But first, Leek needs to try to ensure legitimate polling organizations aren’t affected.
“I think it’s better at this early stage to meet with them,” Leek said Monday after he put his proposal on hold when it was supposed to go before the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee.
“Right now, you could reply ‘stop,’ and they just roll over to another phone number and reset clock,” Leek, an attorney, said. “By making the candidate responsible for the failure to stop, you will bring that to an end, because now (under the bill) they could be on the hook not only for the injunction, but also the attorney fees.”
He downplayed the idea that the bill was motivated by his hard-fought primary election win last year in Senate District 7. Leek won after facing opposition from plaintiffs’ lawyers, who spent millions of dollars trying to help his opponent, former St. Johns County David Shoar.
Leek’s proposal would allow people to indicate they don’t want to receive texts or calls from candidates or groups pushing for or against candidates and ballot measures. People would simply have to say they don’t want to get such phone calls, while they could respond to text messages with “Stop.”
Sen. Tina Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat and attorney, has proposed an amendment that would require people filing lawsuits to notify each prospective defendant by certified mail and prevent taking action until 30 days after the notices are mailed.
A Senate staff analysis of the bill said opponents could raise legal challenges on First Amendment grounds, with political speech “entitled to the highest degree of protection under the First Amendment.”
“Governments, however, are permitted to place reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of speech so long as they are content-neutral, narrowly tailored, and serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information,” the analysis said.
CABINET ROOM REDO
Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a, “Wow! Nice change” as he opened a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday in the Capitol’s refurbished Cabinet meeting room.
With improved lighting, a higher ceiling and a décor intended to emulate a courtroom setting, the room made its debut after a nearly $2.5 million makeover that came amid about $300 million in work in the Capitol complex — from the Waller Park plaza on the Capitol’s west side to new windows and temperature controls — that has been underway for nearly a decade.
While individual chairs cluttered the Cabinet room in the past, it now has pews for the public behind a barrister-style barrier. Inside the well of the room there is another row — similar to defense and prosecutor tables — where staff members and panelists can sit or stand to address the Cabinet.
The opening of the Cabinet meeting room came a day after a new security vestibule for the public to enter the Capitol.
SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE WEEK
“Last week, I directed my office to work with our law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate. Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers.” — Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier).
Leave a Reply
