Lloyd Doggett Rapid-Fire Questions Trump Trade Rep On Whether We'll Reverse Course On Tariffs

2 days ago

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) questioned US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

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Transcript

00:00Okay. Thank you, Ambassador. I have a number of yes-no answers, and if you feel you cannot answer them, yes or no, just say you cannot, and I'll move on to the next question.

00:10The first of these, yes or no, the Trump tariffs will soon be levied on pharmaceuticals from abroad.

00:17I'd like to discuss that in more detail with you, sir.

00:21Is that true or not?

00:22Well, the president, he wants to get manufacturing production back here, and so he's going to conduct an investigation to see what's appropriate in terms of tariffs.

00:30So he hasn't decided to impose them as he said he would last night at the Republican fundraiser?

00:35He said that he will impose them. Now what the extent of that is is subject to an investigation.

00:40I think the answer is yes, reclaiming my time.

00:42A simple question, Ambassador. Yes or no, do you agree with the president's senior trade advisor, Peter Navarro, that higher tariffs are tax cuts?

00:53Sir, I don't get involved in the tax discussions, but we know tariffs have a revenue effect for sure.

00:58You think tariffs are tax cuts?

01:01I think that tariffs are an imposition on foreign goods that can protect American workers and American products.

01:07And again, yes or no, do you agree with senior trade advisor, Peter Navarro,

01:12that as Americans watch their savings erode in the stock market losses approaching $7 trillion,

01:18that what Americans need is patience?

01:20I think we all need to work through this period as we try to reshore and get over the $1.2 trillion deficit that the Biden left us with.

01:28Do you agree with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that we're not going to reverse course,

01:33no matter how much the markets implode, and that these tariffs will be permanent?

01:38Well, the president has directed that we're negotiating with willing partners, and that's where I'm keying my guidance from.

01:43You just referenced the United Kingdom, and you have claimed that these trade deficits require these tariffs.

01:52Is it correct that large Trump tariffs were imposed on imports from close allies like the United Kingdom and Australia,

02:01even though we have a sizable trade surplus with each of those allies?

02:05There's a global deficit, and those surpluses should probably be larger because of the barriers they have.

02:11Again, sir, can you simply answer yes or no?

02:13Did we impose tariffs on allies with whom we have a trade surplus, not a trade deficit?

02:19We impose tariffs on every country because it's a global problem.

02:21So the answer is yes, even though you don't want to say it apparently.

02:24Let me ask you also about experiences during the first Trump administration,

02:30because at that time there was discussion about the impact of the retaliatory tariffs from China on farmers.

02:40And as a result of that retaliation, there was a significant amount of farm welfare payments that were paid.

02:46We know this time that the tariffs and the retaliation are much broader,

02:51like the Chinese substituting Brazilian soybeans for American soybeans.

02:56Will American taxpayers be asked once again to finance welfare payments to farmers that lose foreign markets?

03:04Yes or no?

03:05It's not clear yet whether that will be necessary.

03:07Might have to and might not.

03:09Similarly, last time there were concerns about the selective nature

03:14and the exceptions that were made to these tariffs.

03:17And it seems that those who hired Republican contributors, lobby firms, did much better on exceptions.

03:24The whole exception process was criticized by the Government Accountability Office.

03:30Can I be assured that if one of my businesses hires a Republican lobbyist and contributor

03:37who can get a table down at Mar-a-Lago,

03:39that they will not get an exception to these tariffs or an exclusion?

03:42There are no exceptions or exclusions.

03:44No exceptions.

03:45Or the President.

03:46All right.

03:46You know, it's not one of my regular allies,

03:49but the National Taxpayers Union sent me a question yesterday,

03:53and I'll pose it to you as they did to me.

03:55They note that the United States has run trade deficits for 48 straight years,

04:00during which time the U.S. economy has grown by 255 percent in real terms,

04:06that these decades of trade deficits have corresponded with increases in American wealth

04:11and household incomes that far exceed the progress in Canada, China, and the European Union.

04:17Do you think that this growth in American wealth as a result associated with deficits

04:24is something that constitutes a national emergency?

04:28The giant and massive persistent trade deficit that Biden left us with is an emergency.

04:32It's not like the small deficits from the 60s when we had auto workers here making production.

04:37We've offshored all this stuff, Mr. Doggett, and we are really in an emergency situation,

04:43and we're not passing the buck.

04:44At the time, we seem to have done much better than in the Gilded Age, which the President prefers.

04:49I would just say that on the eve of his inauguration,

04:52the President promised to bring prices drastically down,

04:54and there's nothing that you've said in your answers or non-answers to me today

04:59that would give Americans any assurance to believe anything other than that their prices will continue to soar

05:04and their savings will continue to shrink.

05:07The President's lies continue to cost the American people dearly.

05:12I yield back.

Lloyd Doggett Rapid-Fire Questions Trump Trade Rep On Whether We'll Reverse Course On Tariffs

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