'I Don't Know What You Think': Maria Cantwell Laces Into US Trade Rep Over Trump's Tariffs

2 days ago

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) questioned US Trade Rep Jamieson Greer about President Trump's tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ambassador Greer, good to see you. You and I have had many

00:06conversations about trade. I think my question this morning, though, starts with the consultation

00:12that Congress deserves on trade issues from the trade ambassador. And what did the Trump

00:18administration do to prepare us, to communicate with us, to tell us about findings as it relates

00:26to these emergency orders by the president? Thank you, Senator. As you know, I find consultation

00:33requirements very important, and not just as a requirement, just a matter of good practice.

00:38Our staff, the USTR staff, in the past two months that we've been in office, have had

00:43over 200 formal engagements with staff on the Hill, obviously here in the Senate, also

00:48in the House. The day of the reciprocal trade announcement, we had our staff also up here

00:54briefing your staff. And we also had the president issue very publicly his America First trade

01:00policy memorandum, which specifically said that he was going to look into the trade deficit

01:04and the possibilities of tariffs. So we've wreaked havoc on the economy by

01:09having one of the largest drops of the market. We have People's 401 in panic. We have retail

01:16organizations like the retail industry, National Retail Federation, American Apparel Industry,

01:22Outdoor Association, Consumer Technology, Computer Communications Industry, Main Street Alliance,

01:28small business majority, all anxious, asking us to do something. And you're saying, well,

01:34some people have passed some notes to staff. What the requirement is, and this is where

01:40I believe the president has misconstructed and actually exploited this authority, is not communicated

01:47to us, nor these interest groups that are now panicked over the effect of tariffs.

01:53So I would say that the skill set of a USTR office or even a treasury secretary could have opened these

02:00conversations with these countries without the tariffs and saved a lot of people a lot of pain

02:08and anguish. I worry that this trust issue, because I have a different worldview, that we should be

02:14building alliances as a way to counter China, that the alliance building process now will become

02:21harder. And people are going to wonder, well, is the United States going to pull another fast one again

02:26and just wreak havoc, when in reality, countering China with a tech NATO or something like that

02:32is a more powerful tool. Do you have a comment about that?

02:35I do. And I think we need to be, I think we do need to be thoughtful about this. I think what we

02:41can't do is wait. We have had many, many times in past decades when we have had real robust trade

02:50disputes with our partners. You know, Japan in the 80s and early 90s over cars, semiconductors,

02:55and they ended reshoring a lot of those factories here. And it didn't make us less of a security partner

02:59to Japan. I think we can have these conversations like friends do. And that's what the president

03:04said yesterday. He said, listen, China's trying to retaliate. They're taking different paths,

03:08but for others who want to have meetings, we'll negotiate.

03:09I want to reclaim my time for a second, because I only have five minutes, and you have lots

03:12of time to answer lots of questions for members. But you can see all my colleagues, we are thoughtful

03:17people with specific issues about our constituencies. I just met with raspberry growers. They're concerned.

03:22They want to know if they're going to get some, you know, seat on a council so they can have

03:27their issues heard. I'm for trade. I represent trade. I represent a trade economy. I represent

03:32the success of what innovation and trade get you. But you're coming here this morning with

03:38this not only tanking of the market and 401s, now you're coming here telling me that tariff

03:44is the tool. And I'm telling you innovation is the tool. You're telling us in your testimony

03:49you want a tariff on semiconductors. I'm saying that the last administration and this organization

03:55here passed the Chips and Science Act. So we could reshore tariff, so we could reshore

04:00semiconductors here in the United States. So you're not going to win the innovation economy

04:06by tariffing semiconductors and reshoring that. I don't know what you think. I'm not trying

04:11to get the semiconductor. I want to lead on next generation semiconductor manufacturing,

04:16because I'm pretty sure I'm sitting next to the Intel ranking member here who's going

04:20to tell me if we don't lead on semiconductor manufacturing and semiconductor next generation

04:26technology, then we're not going to be leading in defense or in AI or in anything. So I want

04:32to innovate my way to that future and I want to use the alliance power of different countries

04:38to force China and other people to follow us instead of this berating of the American consumer

04:44who has to pay the price for this policy. Senator, TSMC has announced a new announcement

04:52where they're going to have more investment here in the United States so they can make

04:55those things here and have that innovation. Thank you. Thank you, the people who voted

04:58for the Chips and Science Act in the past administration. Thank you for that. We are going to lead on innovation

05:04despite this administration. Senator Warner. Well, Ambassador Greer, it's good to see you. And let me,

05:14first of all, completely agree with Senator Cantwell. I mean, I just don't get it.

'I Don't Know What You Think': Maria Cantwell Laces Into US Trade Rep Over Trump's Tariffs

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