James Horsford Grills US Trade Rep On Tariff Pause, Accuses Admin Of 'Market Manipulation'

2 days ago

During a House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, Rep. James Horsford (D-NV) asked US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about President Trump's decision to pause all reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Horsford. Thank you Chairman Smith and to the ranking member. Mr. Trade

00:07Representative, are you aware that the tariffs have been paused? I am, yes. When

00:13when when were you made aware of that? Well I understood the decision was made

00:16a few minutes ago. Sitting here under discussion. Sitting here under discussion.

00:21So did you know that the that this was under discussion and why did you not

00:24include that as part of your opening remarks? So typically what I don't do is

00:29divulge the contents of my discussions. What are the details of the pause? Well

00:34my understanding is that because so many countries have decided not to retaliate

00:39we're going to have about 90 days. No, excuse me. You you we are the China

00:45increased their tariffs on the United States. Trump blinked. What's the blink sir?

00:53What do you know about this pause? What are the details of it? Well the details as

00:59I understand it is that China continues to retaliate. Other countries didn't

01:03retaliate. The president two or three days ago said we wanted to negotiate with

01:07those countries that asked for that asked for meetings. That's what we're doing.

01:10What are the details? How long is the pause? How many days? How many weeks? I

01:14understand it's 90 days. I haven't spoken to the president since I saw the trade

01:18representative hasn't spoken to the president of the United States about a

01:23global reordering of trade. Yes I have. And yet he announced it on a tweet. WTF who's in

01:33charge? The president United States is in charge. And what do you know about those

01:38details? Well as I mentioned it looks like your boss just pulled the rug out

01:43from under you and paused the tariffs the taxes on the American people. There's no

01:49strategy. You just found out three seconds ago sitting here we saw you. We've been

01:55discussing it. If you came here knowing that you are going to be turned off that

02:00these tariffs were going to be turned off why didn't you include that in your

02:04opening statement? Why didn't you reference that as part of your testimony?

02:08Well I don't disclose my conversations with the president sir. These were specific

02:13questions we asked you all along. What's the strategy? These are real

02:17consequences for the American people and small businesses. I had a group of small

02:22businesses in my office earlier today talking about the impacts of these

02:26tariffs on aluminum and steel. This is amateur hour and it needs to stop. What

02:34does this even mean for your negotiating strategy? How are you in charge of

02:39negotiation if the president is tweeting about this from wherever the hell he is?

02:46The president was elected and he runs the trade policy and I advise him and

02:51execute his trade policy. Who executes the trade policy? Did you know that this was

02:55happening? We have been discussing all kinds of... And there's another member of the

02:59cabinet, Besant, who just canceled coming to the Hill to avoid talking about the

03:05market because it's in turmoil. This in just days because there was no strategy.

03:11There was no plan. The president chose to take actions that he didn't even have the

03:19authority to take. He's put our economy in disarray and near collapse. We have small

03:28businesses and Americans who are concerned about their well-being. People's

03:33retirement, people's 529 accounts went down because of this administration. We have

03:42people that are planning to send their kids to college this fall. Retire people

03:48who are retirement retiring whose benefits have declined. Is this market

03:56manipulation? No. Why not? If it was a plan, if it was always the

04:03plan, how is this not market manipulation? It's not market manipulation, sir.

04:08Then what is it? Because it sure is not a strategy. We're trying to reset the

04:12global trade system. It's offshore all of our factories. And what has that done?

04:16How have you achieved any of that? But to enact enormous harm on the American people,

04:24which was our concern from the very beginning. Tariffs are a tool. It can be used in the

04:30appropriate way to protect U.S. jobs and small businesses. But that's not what this does.

04:37So if it's not market manipulation, what is it? Who's benefiting? What billionaire just got richer?

04:47And all the while, there are not even any Republicans left in this hearing. They all left because they

04:55don't even want to defend this. But meanwhile, the speaker is rushing to the floor to pass a budget

05:00reconciliation to screw America by passing the biggest tax cut in history on the backs of the American people?

05:08WTF? Who's in charge? Because it sure doesn't look like it's the trade representative. You just got the rug pulled

05:20out from under you. I wish I could feel some empathy. But the empathy I have is for the American people whose very well-being

05:33and livelihoods are being affected. This is not a game. This is real life. I yield back.

James Horsford Grills US Trade Rep On Tariff Pause, Accuses Admin Of 'Market Manipulation'

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