Raphael Warnock Grills Trump Trade Rep Over Tariffs And Their Impact On Small Businesses

2 days ago

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Raphael Warnock grilled US Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer on President Trump's tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00President Trump announced his tariffs last week. The stock market has dropped more than 10%. We've

00:05talked about that. I'm more concerned about the impact on ordinary people. This for me is a

00:12regressive tax. It's a tax on families who are already dealing with increasing costs and are

00:20trying to figure out how to make their lives work. I heard you say, Mr. Greer, that you don't think

00:25that we're in a trade war. I respect your expertise on trade, but tomorrow the Trump

00:34administration will implement its reciprocal tariffs, which means businesses and families

00:40have had less than one week to plan for the largest tax increase in more than 50 years.

00:46We are escalating. We can go back and forth about whether we think it's a trade war. I'm focused

00:54on how this is impacting families. Normally when tariffs are being discussed, businesses and

01:03industries have time to plan, and the government often provides an orderly and clear process for

01:08American companies to apply for exclusions from tariffs when it's not possible for them to sell

01:14a product without importing parts or all of it because no one manufactures it here. We all know

01:23uncertainty is the worst thing for business. I'm hearing this from farmers. I'm hearing it from

01:26folks in the manufacturing sector. So I hope we can provide some certainty. What should a

01:31multinational retailer do about their products made only overseas or that contain parts only made

01:40overseas? We're seeing this in our automotive sector in Georgia. Should they just raise their prices

01:48on families to account for the new tax? Or is there a process for that company to reach out to the White House

01:55for an exclusion?

01:57So Senator Warnock, the Section 232 on autos is a Commerce Department action. One thing they've done is they have said

02:05that they would be willing to give some kind of a credit for U.S. content in parts and components and they can

02:10approach the Commerce Department about this. It's not a decision I'm making, but I know that this is one

02:15alternative. You know, I'm mindful, you know, when I hear this, I, you know, obviously we're sensitive to

02:21these dynamics, but it just reminds me that we lost five million manufacturing jobs over the last 20

02:26years. And that's part of the reason why we're in this situation now. And we just have to bring those

02:29back. So, so we're, it's important to bring it back now before the situation gets worse.

02:34But what, what, the question is, what do they do? Do they pass that price on to consumers?

02:39Well, what we've seen is Ford and GM, for example, have announced actually that they're giving discounts.

02:43Uh, that, that's what, that was the big news last week, last Thursday, they'd be giving discounts

02:47going forward. Uh, these companies often are going to figure out how they allocate costs among

02:51themselves. Um, and it rarely gets down to the consumer and one for one. So the company might

02:54figure it out. I think is, is, is, is a man. Well, they can approach the Commerce Department.

02:58Let me go, let me go smaller. Last week, my office met with Angela Hawkins. She's the founder of

03:04Bam Blue, a small business in Atlanta that sells bamboo based sleepwear and sheets, particularly for

03:09people with severe and sensitive, uh, skin allergies like her husband. Angela's products

03:13are made overseas because you can't really find bamboo fabric made in the United States.

03:19What should Angela do? Pay the new tax, raise her prices and risk losing customers? Or is

03:25there a process for her to apply for an exclusion from the Trump White House?

03:30So Senator, uh, the president has said that in connection with this action, he's not going

03:35to have exclusions or exemptions, uh, beyond what's in the program already for certain,

03:40for certain products. So she'll just have to figure it out.

03:43She'll have to work with her business partners and find about sourcing and they're there.

03:47She'll have to either raise prices and risk customers basically is, is the answer, right?

03:52Because she can't get bamboo here. It will, it will depend on the tariff rate. Every country

03:56has a, has a different rate and some are, are much lower than others. And so they're,

04:00so she might, she might even go out of business. Let's go even smaller. Early estimates, estimates

04:06show that, uh, President Trump's tariffs will increase the cost of goods by $3,800 for an average

04:13American household. Many critical baby goods like cribs and baby good, baby gates are produced abroad

04:21or made, uh, or have foreign made counter, uh, uh, components. I went through this not long ago as a

04:28parent of young children. For an expecting family in Augusta, Georgia, who may now see a 50 percent

04:33price increase for that stroller or car seat, what is the process for that family, uh, to apply for a

04:40White House exclusion? I guess if the business owner can't get one, they can't get one either, correct?

04:45Uh, so there's not an exclusion process. That's right.

04:47So, so they would just bear the cost?

04:50Well, I, I think the studies you're talking about, the economists, they got it wrong and Trump won.

04:54They said there's gonna be inflation because of tariffs and it went down. So when I hear them now saying the same

04:58thing, I just don't trust what they're saying. And that's, you know, the, the fact of history shows

05:02that it's, it's not a one-to-one. The most, the highest inflation we ever saw was under Biden for

05:07housing and education and healthcare and all of these things. And it was, and I don't know where

05:10everybody was then, uh, when that was skyrocketing by 20 percent.

05:14What if, what if their child is potassium deficient and now bananas are more expensive?

05:18Last check, last I checked, we don't, uh, have the climate to grow bananas in the United States.

05:24Who should that family reach out to the White House for an exclusion for that price hike

05:28on those bananas? Well, again, as we've discussed,

05:29there's not an exclusion process. I, I think we've waited too long with the status quo.

05:33I know people want the status quo. They want the trading system that Wall Street likes,

05:37but we can't have it anymore. So here, here you and I agree. Uh, nobody,

05:40nobody wants the status quo. Uh, this economy is not working, uh, for working families,

05:47for ordinary people. And I would submit that what the president Trump, uh, what the president did last

05:52week, uh, in such a reckless and sudden way is adding even more pressure on these families.

05:58Thank you so much. Senator Warren. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Donald Trump is single-handedly

06:04driving this economy off a cliff with no evidence to back him up. He's claimed emergency authorities

06:11to slap new terrorists.

Raphael Warnock Grills Trump Trade Rep Over Tariffs And Their Impact On Small Businesses

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