During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke about Congressional Democrats' record of calling for economic action against China's growing power.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, Caroline. Two questions on trade. First, as a part of these negotiations, is it possible
00:06for countries to lower their tariffs below that 10 percent bare minimum that's been set?
00:12Again, I'll leave that to the President to make those determinations, but I can tell
00:16you that 10 percent universal baseline will go into effect as these negotiations are ongoing.
00:20Got it. And then what is your thinking just as far as low labor-cost countries? Like,
00:25if you've got a country like Vietnam that wants to negotiate, but obviously they have
00:29some advantages in terms of trade, in terms of the people there are not paid as much
00:33as American citizens. What is kind of the thinking? Can they still achieve a good kind of trade
00:39outcome with the United States? Well, again, you're right to point out
00:42that different countries have different labor markets. They have different skills, if you
00:47will, different resources, and the President is going to take all of that into account.
00:51His team will take all of that into account when they're negotiating these deals. I do
00:54just want to point out one thing, that the President, everybody in Washington, whether
00:59they want to admit it or not, knows that this President is right when it comes to tariffs
01:04and when it comes to trade. In fact, Democrats have long said that the United States of America
01:09has been ripped off by the countries around the world. They just don't want to admit it
01:13now because it's President Trump who is saying that. In June of 1996, Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor.
01:19She urged her colleagues at the time to fight against the status quo trade policies that had contributed
01:24to America's trade deficit with China. In fact, Nancy Pelosi said,
01:28How far does China have to go? How much more repression? How big a trade deficit?
01:32How many jobs have to be lost for the American workers? How much dangerous proliferation has to exist
01:37before members of this House of Representatives will say, I will not endorse the status quo?
01:42Those are the words of Nancy Pelosi in 1996. Well, President Trump is finally answering her call.
01:4827 years later, Nancy Pelosi can thank President Trump today for the 104 percent retaliatory tariff
01:55that will be going into effect on China. In 2007, Chuck Schumer spoke of our nation's crippling trade
02:01deficits, saying, These are the kinds of records the American people don't want us to be breaking.
02:05The administration needs to move beyond words. Take action now to reverse a trend that threatens our
02:10prospects for future economic growth. And Chuck Schumer said that in 2007.
02:16Finally, in 2025, President Trump is taking action. Recently defeated Democrat Sherrod Brown said on
02:22deficits in 2012 that our deficit then at China had reached an all-time high. And it was on pace to
02:29recede last year's record. The trade deficit had cost American workers millions of jobs at the time.
02:36These are the words of Democrats years ago. It is about time America finally has a President who is
02:42taking action to restore those millions of jobs back to the United States of America to boost our
02:47manufacturing industry. He's doing what's right for the American people. It will take a lot of labor.
02:52It will take a lot of effort. That's exactly what the American people elected this President to do.
02:56He will be talking about our energy agenda at 3 o'clock today over in the East Room, as you all know.
03:01He will be signing a bill to unleash the might of our beautiful, clean coal industry in this country,
03:08which is a reliable energy source also for AI. There's a great story in Bloomberg today, actually,
03:14about the executive order that will be signed later. So we'll see you all there.
03:17I'll let the President speak more. We'll see you later. Thanks, guys.
03:20We'll see you later, guys.