'It Always Should Be America First': Mike Kelly Delivers Emphatic Defense Of Trump's Tariffs

2 days ago

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) spoke in support of President Trump's blanket tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Kelly. Thank you Chairman. Ambassador, thanks for being here. There's a quote in

00:06the movie Tora, Tora, Tora from Admiral Yamamoto and he says, what I fear is that

00:11we have awakened a sleeping giant. Thank God we've looked around at what's

00:16happening in the world. Twice America has gone to World War to save the world.

00:23We did it in World War I, we did it in World War II, and after World War II the

00:28people that we saved and some of the people that we fought against were

00:31absolutely devastated. They had no way to build themselves back up again. So what

00:36did America do? We opened our markets because we have always been the most

00:42generous people in the world and we're always the first responder no matter what

00:46happens anywhere in the world. Who's there first? It's always the Yanks. We have

00:53seeded so much market share. We have rebuilt for most of the world an economy

00:59that they never could have achieved on their own. Now we're facing a situation

01:05with all those who we've helped don't like us playing in their market. They love

01:12coming to America but they don't want America coming to them. They make it very

01:19hard for us to do trade with them, whether it's through tariffs or barriers, which

01:24our manufacturers can't meet. And we sit here today trying to make this a

01:30political event instead of a country saving event. I come from a little town

01:37called Butler, Pennsylvania. Butler at one time was a home of a steel mill. Still is. We

01:45built railroad cars. Pullman was there. We built the first Jeep. We were known as

01:52that town. Blue collar town. People get up in the morning, work hard, and what they

01:58look for is that chance to get some overtime. Last summer we became known as the

02:07town with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. We're resilient. We always

02:15bounce back. We always will bounce back. And I got to tell you, I have some

02:19statements from from the people that actually work every day, get up and go

02:24to work, and they're they're looking at a market that they are constantly losing

02:29market share in. And and they wonder, they wonder, who is going to stand up and do

02:36something? Who's finally going to talk about the real problems in America and quit

02:40talking about the stock market? Stop talking about all these other things,

02:45because I've watched it go up. I've watched it go down. I've watched it go

02:48sideways. I watched it where some people say, I don't like to play in that because

02:52I don't understand how it works. Here's the one thing I do know. And you know it

02:57too. It's all about work. It's all about market share. Jamie Sycheck from UAW 3303, we were in a dire

03:06situation not because of foreign competition. That hurt us a lot. We went

03:10from the steel plant that were 7,000 people down to there's about 1,300. We

03:13produce something called grain orange and electric steel, the only producer of that

03:16product in America. And we were in danger of losing it because we had an

03:20administration that had a blind eye and a deaf ear to what they were giving up.

03:24Also Jim Winnings, who operates a factory down in Mars, Pennsylvania, shares his view with me

03:33about how much market share they've lost. So I'm amazed when we try to turn this into a

03:41political battle and not a USA saving grace battle where we finally wake up. And just

03:50as Admiral Yamamoto feared in World War II, fear all we have done is to awake a

03:55sleeping giant. We have given away so much of our market and been denied access to

04:02other markets. We are the first responder every time something goes wrong in the

04:08world. I would just like to see the world treat us with the same respect as we have

04:12treated them. Level the playing field. That's all the president's asking for.

04:16Level the playing field. Don't make it impossible for us to play. Don't tell us

04:21yes you can come here as long as you meet these standards knowing that the

04:24standards they've set we can't meet. Yet we still allow them to come in. I sell Chevrolet's,

04:35I sell Hyundai's, I sell Kia's, I sell Toyotas, and I sell Mitsubishi's. People say why is it

04:42that you have to do that? I said to make payroll. Most of these companies have

04:47factories in the United States and they have come here to help build, not to tear down with

04:51American workers. I really applaud what you're doing. I applaud the president United

04:54States for having the backbone to stand up and fulfill a pledge that others have

04:58made before him. They've stood on the floor of the Congress and talked about

05:02this and railed about what's happening to our markets and done not a damn thing

05:06about it. He stands up into a stiff wind and says it's gonna hurt for a while

05:11until we get back to where we need to be. It's always should be America first and

05:15anybody that doesn't think that way please tell me what the hell country you

05:19think you're gonna take your wife and your kids to and your grandkids to. There

05:22is no other place in the world like America and we have been so generous and

05:26so welcoming and as I said earlier we saved the world twice. Now it's time for

05:31us to say to the world if you want us to be the first responder you can't keep

05:35stealing our market and not allowing us to play in your ambassador. You've got a

05:39hell of a task in front of you. The biggest task you have is this has become a

05:43political agenda and not as saving the United States America. America first please for

05:47everybody. I am red white and blue. I could care less whether you're a

05:51Republican or a Democrat. Just wake up and understand that we cannot stand to

05:55lose any more market share and we better be tough on this one or we turn our backs

05:59on the future and I've got 10 grandchildren that are relying me to stand up and

06:03hopefully other members of this committee will do the same thing. This is

06:07not about tearing Trump down. This is about building America up. Thank you.

'It Always Should Be America First': Mike Kelly Delivers Emphatic Defense Of Trump's Tariffs

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