'Will I Be Alive?': Gwen Moore Grills Trade Rep On When Tariffs Will Cause Manufacturing Reshoring

2 days ago

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wendesday, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) spoke about the Trump Administration's predicted timeline for when they believe tariffs will cause companies to 'reshore' manufacturing in the United States.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you so much Mr. Chairman and thank you Mr. Ambassador for visiting with us.

00:05I have to say that I have really appreciated the discussion that we've

00:09had here today with our colleagues and as is always the case with me I have

00:15remarks that are planned and then I make the mistake of listening to what other

00:20people have said and I really do want to agree with some of the things my

00:26colleagues have said like Mr. Schmucker and Mr. Kelly that we need and you Mr.

00:31Ambassador have said that we need to have access to markets specifically Mr. Kelly

00:37said we can't afford to lose any market share and I agree with him he went on to

00:43say that we need to level the playing field Mr. LaHood talked about his soybean

00:49farmers in Illinois and I'm from Wisconsin sir and so I do know that

00:55we have a 1.3 billion dollars worth of soybean product and our main partner is

01:05with China and so I think Wisconsin farmers that's just one example of how we are at

01:11risk of losing market share and then Mr. Doggett went on to say how you know

01:17instead of allowing like my soybean farmers to do that what we would revert to

01:22would be to give them welfare and I guess I don't agree with that

01:25characterization I don't even agree with it as a characterization of subsidy

01:30this is actually a ripoff you know farmers lost about 27 billion dollars in the

01:38first Trump administration and they only got about 23 billion dollars in subsidy

01:44return so they lost money they lost market share and they lost lives you know in

01:51Wisconsin there was a study done and they looked at suicide rates and suicide

01:57rates among farmers are like three and a half times more than in other

02:02professions this is a very stressful career and so I am very concerned and I

02:07wonder what's going to happen to them you haven't said to us I think you sort of

02:12skirted the question about whether or not we were going to give them subsidies but

02:17even if we would give them subsidies that would not prevent them from losing

02:23market share and farmers want they don't want a check they want to be able to farm

02:29I also wonder sir what you know I am just saying I think that when you look at trade

02:39deficits I think we have to look at more than just what a tariff may or may not do our trade

02:46imbalances over time have been caused by us not having a trade balance on issue of

02:54labor laws making sure that there's no slave labor and child labor that the

02:59environment is protected when we extract materials and do stuff that that people

03:05have the ability to bargain in their countries and to make sure that they get a

03:10wage that's commensurate with their efforts and you know I agree with mr. Kelly that we

03:15need to level the playing field on those those fields and that a rising tide will

03:21lift all boats I do wonder mr. ambassador whether this administration's trade

03:29policy and it seems that it does my colleague here just mentioned the trade

03:34deficit that we have with Madagascar I had the privilege to go on a trip with the

03:41committee to Madagascar where there was a 75% poverty rate so I'm wondering if they

03:48will ever ever ever be able to give us a trade balance speaking of Madagascar they

03:56belong to agoa and I'm wondering if this administration's policies would

04:01eliminate something that's been bipartisan the trade preference programs that we've

04:06had under agoa yes or no are we gonna have an agoa so Congresswoman yeah thanks

04:14for your goal well it's up to Congress Congress has to decide if no up to the

04:17president he's in charge of trade we've sort of do you have a do you have a bill

04:21I haven't seen the bill yet on this one if there's a bill I'll advise the

04:25president accordingly on how we should approach it okay I'll just say one last

04:30question to you you say that we have got to reassure manufacturing you did not say

04:39where folks will get the money and the confidence really to make these

04:44investments is any of the money that you plan to get from tariffs going to be

04:48targeted to incentivizing manufacturing I've got a factory that made car frames

04:55A.O. Smith 10,000 people working there when are we gonna reopen A.O. Smith sir if the

05:04chairman I would love to reopen that and when will I be alive I'm gonna be 74 and I hope so

05:10we should go there you and I and talk to them about what they need in order to

05:13reopen we put tariffs in place I mean they've been shuttered for years we want to

05:17create incentives so they can reopen how what's the timeline between the

05:22suffering that they're doing now and when A.O. Smith is gonna open again part of

05:27the problem is offshore jobs for so long and no one's taken action we've sat on

05:30it we have this huge it is an emergency and I agree with you and I think your

05:33thought your comments have been very thoughtful I don't have that much time I

05:36mean I'll be 74 in a few days it's 10 years it takes a long time to open up a

05:43factory that's going to get the investments that's why the president is

05:46gonna be 10 years how long before we just have to be patient why the

05:51presence acting now because we can't wait anymore we have to reassure now now like

05:56a microwave now thank you mr. chairman and I yield back

'Will I Be Alive?': Gwen Moore Grills Trade Rep On When Tariffs Will Cause Manufacturing Reshoring

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