Michael Bennet Grills Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer About Recession Risk From Trump Tariffs

2 days ago

At Tuesday's Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) questioned U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer about President Trump's tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ambassador, it's good to see you again.

00:03Could you talk a little bit about the relationship of the tariffs that you have put on and rising prices for the American people?

00:13What is it the American people should expect to be able to suffer as a result in terms of rising prices?

00:19I understand your position is that the long-term gain is worth the short-term pain, but what is that short-term pain going to look like?

00:26So, Senator, I think we should look at history and data for this.

00:33It's hard to project what's going to happen with prices, but we know in the first Trump term,

00:39the president imposed historic tariffs on China on an enormous amount of goods coming from China.

00:44And during that time, inflation went down by 0.1%.

00:48During the Biden administration, the historic inflation was not on imported goods or related to tariffs that President Biden put in place.

00:54It was related to, frankly, services, health care, education, etc.

00:57So, I think there's not really a one-to-one on tariffs and price effects.

01:02And so many things go into price.

01:05I know you think I'm probably, like, dodging and weaving on this, but I'm looking at data, sir.

01:10And the data says it's not one-to-one.

01:11I know you're smart enough to know that the likelihood is that prices are going to go up for the American people

01:16as a result of the tariffs that you put in place.

01:19Do you disagree with that?

01:20I mean, when you say that the American – in your testimony that you expect the American people will bear the burden,

01:28and I'm sure they will bear any burden on some level,

01:33but what do you think that burden is actually going to look like?

01:37Well, I think the challenge is, frankly, they're going to be more for companies that are largely dependent on imports from China and Asia

01:46where they have to adjust their supply chains in a quick set of time.

01:49And the way the tariffs get allocated between the foreign producer and the importer, that's where the majority of adjustment comes.

01:56And we have a bunch of those companies in Colorado.

01:59And I know that Osprey Packs, for example, they probably don't want me to mention them, but I will.

02:05And in southwest Colorado would be a very good example of that.

02:09I mean, they are very dependent on the supply chain from Vietnam,

02:12and they probably are really worried today about what's going to happen, which a lot of people are.

02:17I mean, I think one of the things about the situation we find ourselves in is the degree to which we've now created huge uncertainty in our economy.

02:28And I'm worried that that is going to result in a lack of investment, capital investment.

02:34You mentioned some new investments that have been made in our economy,

02:37but I think that anybody who knows anything about the economy knows that uncertainty results in people freezing up,

02:46a paralysis, a lack of investment, which is going to make it hard for our economy and may actually provoke a recession.

02:53Could you comment on your concerns about that and how you're thinking about that?

02:57And I have one more question before I'm out of time.

03:00So, Senator, the best way to have certainty is to build in the United States, right?

03:06That's the best way to have certainty.

03:08But that's going to take a long, long time.

03:12And what's going to happen in the meantime, do you think?

03:16So, Senator, we have, I would say, dilly-dallied for years on this issue.

03:21We've done these broad studies, which are interesting and helpful, that we saw come out of the Biden administration.

03:25But we have to act.

03:26I can't sit for three years and try to find something that's an emergency.

03:29I hear you.

03:30I hear you say that.

03:30But you could have made a different choice, which was to strategically target a geography,

03:39to strategically target Beijing, strategically target certain industries where, you know,

03:47all industries in America weren't affected at the same time.

03:50You didn't make that choice.

03:52I mean, you're in the midst of having trade negotiations with 90 different countries at the same time by your own testimony,

04:01all of whom can make their assessment, I assume, these are sophisticated people,

04:07about where the pressure points are on you, where the pressure points are going to come for us to not necessarily get the best deal

04:15because we're spread all over the globe negotiating every one of these agreements at the same time,

04:20rather than a more strategic approach, which would have had the benefit of giving us, I think,

04:26a much greater degree of certainty about where we were headed.

04:30Obviously, you made a different choice, and I'm just curious about how you think about your responsibility,

04:38how you think about that.

04:40So I would know, and I think it's thoughtful to think about things in this way.

04:43If you look at the results of the reciprocal tariff, the Western hemisphere generally is at the lowest tariff rate.

04:50If you look at where we have our largest problems with non-reciprocity and deficit countries, it's mostly in Asia.

04:56And so you do actually see a pretty strategic outcome with respect to promoting production in the Western hemisphere,

05:03as opposed to where we have all this overproduction in Asia that's given rise to our current problems on trade.

05:09I would just say in closing, Mr. Chairman, that that's true.

05:14What the ambassador said is true, but it still doesn't, I still cannot fathom why we are treating Canada and Mexico,

05:22our largest trading partners, basically the same way we're treating Beijing.

05:27It doesn't make any sense to me.

05:29It makes no sense that we would do it all at the same time like that.

05:34And we're going to have to stay on it, which is why some of us have introduced legislation

05:40to make sure that Congress begins to take its appropriate role again in making these very important trade decisions.

05:47Thank you for your testimony.

05:49Senator Lankford.

05:50Mr. Chairman, thank you.

Michael Bennet Grills Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer About Recession Risk From Trump Tariffs

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