'Beyond Belief': Mark Warner Slams Tariffs, Accuses Trump Of 'Trying To Turn Canada Into An Enemy'

2 days ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) spoke about President Trump's tariffs on Canada.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. President. I recognize the senator from Virginia. Thank you, Mr. President.

00:06I rise to join with my colleagues who are in support of Senator Kaine's, I think,

00:16thoughtful approach on how we put an end to this tariff war with Canada. And I

00:22gotta tell you, one of the things about working with Tim Kaine for 40 years is

00:25he always keeps a hugely optimistic view of things. And boy, do I need a dose of

00:32Tim Kaine optimism today. Because we've seen in our national security domain

00:40reckless disregard for classified information, and no one so far held

00:46accountable. The message that sends to our allies, to the men and women who work

00:51in our military or intelligence, because if they did the same behavior that the

00:56so-called signal gate, they'd be fired. Or I need the Tim Kaine optimism today

01:01because the long-awaited Republican budget resolution adds six trillion

01:09dollars to the deficit. Four trillion in funny math, and about another two

01:17trillion for tax cuts. That then brings us to not my words, but Peter Navarro's words,

01:25what happened to me on a Sunday, says this group of tariffs will add six

01:30trillion dollars in revenues. Who do you think is going to pay for that?

01:33Candidly, it's going to be the people who buy the presiding officer's cars in his

01:39great dealerships in Ohio. It's going to be folks in Virginia. We had one of our

01:45brewers in yesterday, who's already laid off 20% of his staff, because he imports

01:53malted pilsner from Canada. What we're seeing with Trump is not America first,

02:02but what's going to be is America alone. I say to anybody who's, I spend way too

02:10much time in a skiff, I know, but America alone is not an America that's safer.

02:15And the notional idea that we've picked on our longest best friend in many ways,

02:30a little biased, my mom's parents were from Canada, but the notion that this

02:36president is trying to turn Canada into an enemy is beyond belief. You know, I

02:45talked to a senior Canadian leader just the other day. He said, Mark, you know,

02:52even if tomorrow Trump says, never mind, as he's gone back and forth a dozen

02:59times, say no harm, no foul, the damage we have done to the relationship between

03:06America and Canada will take years to recover. Senator Sheehan just mentioned

03:13airplane fights down 75%. Americans national anthem booed at hockey games. We

03:24had another person in who ships whiskey, Virginia bourbon, up to Canada. All the

03:33tariffs are off tomorrow, which they're not. It will be years, if ever, that

03:40Canadians will be buying American bourbon again. So in Dreamland, six trillion

03:49dollars of tariffs, you know, it's the largest tax increase in American history. I

03:56believe it actually goes beyond World War I. And the so-called Liberation Day,

04:01the only thing that is liberating is this administration's liberating

04:06Americans from their savings because the market's down. They're

04:11liberating businesses from their supply chains because of so much disruption. And

04:17they're liberating consumers from their hard-earned money because this is going

04:21to translate into increased costs. This isn't partisan. This isn't Democrat-Republican.

04:29This is math. And no matter how much the president wants to strut on the South

04:37Lawn, and glad to see at least the South Lawn was being used for an

04:41announcement today, as opposed to another day of a Tesla show lot, who's

04:47going to bear the brunt of this? It's going to be Americans. It's going to be Canadians. It's going to be

04:51people around the world. I'm sure my friend has already mentioned this,

04:55particularly from Virginia's standpoint.

05:02Canada is our second biggest trading partner. Virginia business export

05:10approximately 3.3 billion dollars for the products of Canada. We import about

05:153.2 billion. Virginia farmers sell about 430 million dollars of goods to Canada. A

05:21lot of Virginia peanuts go to Canada. They're not going to be going. That is

05:27going to hurt our economy. Matter of fact, in Virginia, 280,000 jobs in Virginia

05:34depend on trade and investment with Canada. I know as governor I went. I know

05:39Senator Kaine, as governor, you went because Canada is one of our best partners. What

05:46would the reception be tomorrow if we showed up in Ottawa? It's not going to be

05:53just another economic policy. This is at the lifeblood of the Canadian economy,

05:58and combined with the so-called reciprocal tariffs around the world, it

06:02is the lifeblood of the American economy. So I know Senator Van Hollen is

06:09going to say a lot of the same things that I was going to say. I would just say

06:12to the presiding officer again, I know you sell great cars, but I'm not sure

06:17even folks in Ohio are going to be able to afford $2,000 or $5,000 more per car

06:22just because of ill-suited tariffs. So I hope that folks on both sides of the

06:31aisle will actually stand up for America first, reject this misguided tariff

06:38strategy, reject this demonization of Canada, recognize that America first

06:46doesn't have to be America alone. The only thing that could make my day

06:53actually better at this point, beyond that little dose of Kaine optimism, is if the

06:58Senate finally comes to its senses tonight, endorses Tim's resolution, and we

07:04put an end to this misguided economic policy. With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

'Beyond Belief': Mark Warner Slams Tariffs, Accuses Trump Of 'Trying To Turn Canada Into An Enemy'

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