Democrats lambasted President Donald Trump’s tariff actions on Wednesday, with one Virginia congressman telling U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer he has the “awful job” of trying to defend them.
Greer began his testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee by defending Trump’s actions and dispelling criticisms of the president’s tariff calculus.
Greer said that it is wise to consider non-tariff trade barriers from allies like the European Union.
He said the U.S. charges a 2.5% tariff on ethanol, while ally Brazil charges 18%. He also spoke of non-tariff barriers to U.S. exports of shellfish with the European Union, saying the U.S. takes in much more than it exports because of such impediments.
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The current trade environment in the U.S. is the “manifestation of the loss of the nation’s ability to make, grow and build — and it’s dangerous,” Greer said.
Many Democrats, including Virginia Rep. Donald Beyer, were not convinced.
“You have the most awful job trying to convince us and the people we represent that the president’s trade policies are wise and measured, when the truth is they are stupid and bad,” the Alexandria lawmaker said.
Beyer, who founded a chain of car dealerships in the Washington, D.C., area, said the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the early 20th century led the world to retaliate in a fashion that led to the Great Depression.
“You got the math wrong according to the people whose research you cited,” Beyer told Greer, asking why Trump is tariffing bananas, chocolate and coffee.
While Hawaii produces two of the three, Beyer said the U.S. does not produce or does not produce enough of those goods — and that therefore tariffing them is only hurting American consumers.
“Trump logic equates any trade deficit with cheating. In fact, he called it ‘rape,'” Beyer said.
He claimed Trump’s double-digit tariff on Madagascar — from which the U.S. purchases vanilla — is unfounded, because Madagascar’s GDP is extremely low compared to the U.S., so no trade imbalance truly exists.
“Trump declared a phony national emergency [against our] closest ally, Canada… America First is America Alone,” he fumed.
On the right, another car dealer turned lawmaker disagreed with Beyer.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., noted he owns several dealerships covering multiple makes, as the automotive sector’s historic outsourcing is worrying consumers and manufacturers alike.
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“Twice, America has gone to world war to save the world — who’s there first — it’s always the Yanks,” Kelly said, defending Greer.
“We have rebuilt for much of the world an economy that they could not have [built] on their own — they love coming to America — but they don’t want America coming to them.”
He noted that in addition to producing the first Jeep, his hometown of Butler also produced Pullman railroad cars, and that as the manufacturing sector in the area has declined, his community is now sadly known as the place where Trump was nearly assassinated.
“But we always bounce back,” he said.
Greer later engaged in a particularly biting back and forth with another Pennsylvanian — Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia, who called the market’s recent net downturn potentially “the first recession in 25 years directly caused by a president’s policies.”
“401(k)s [are] becoming 201(k)s,” he said.
“I know Wall Street and your colleagues want the status quo,” Greer retorted.
Boyle snapped back at Greer, telling him his district — Northeast Philly and the River Wards — is a working-class area.
“Really, I can’t take all this winning,” Boyle added, appearing to mock Trump’s past vernacular.
Other Democrats also battled Greer, including ranking member Richie Neal, D-Mass., who remarked, “Liechtenstein doesn’t stand a chance” economically due to Trump — in an apparent reference to a recent CBS News story in which a reporter interviewed surprised residents of the tiny Alpine country.
“[It’s] only taken him 79 days to inflict this permanent damage,” Neal claimed in regard to the economy.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, grilled Greer with a series of “yes or no” questions that the trade rep attempted to offer context for, but was cut off each time by the Austin lawmaker.
“The president’s lies continue to cost the American people dearly,” Doggett said.
Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., characterized Trump’s tariff map as “To Russia With Love,” quipping that he is a James Bond fan, referring to 007’s second film foray.
Larson said Trump’s tariffs improperly exclude Russia, Cuba and alleged Russian proxy-nation Belarus.
Tariff advocates have said Russia was not on the tariff list because the U.S. already imposes stringent sanctions and tariffs against the rival nation.
Republicans also pushed back on similar criticisms about Cuba and North Korea, noting neither has any real semblance of trade with the U.S.
Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., later defended Trump’s tariffs, telling Greer that of all the talk of the stock market’s woes at times, the poorest Americans don’t benefit as much from market swings as the rich.
“People will talk about their 401(k)s, but the reality is that the top 10% own 88% of all the stock market,” he said, adding that people making $42,000 or less have almost no skin in that game but stand to gain much more from onshoring or other expected tariff benefits.
He went on to list several small countries that purchase more American goods outright than the entire European Union.
Smith claimed Honduras buys more American pork than much of Europe and that the African nation of Angola — with a 200-times smaller GDP than the EU — buys more chicken from the States.
“It is time Main Street is represented instead of Wall Street,” Smith added.
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