Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Tuesday that he is taking seriously President-elect Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on three countries shortly after he took office in January.
President Trump announced plans Monday night to impose a 25% tariff on all goods coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada, the United States’ largest trading partners, and an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods. Trump’s first term.
Schatz told reporters at the Capitol that he was concerned Trump’s plan would raise prices for goods for Americans and that he was taking Trump’s comments seriously despite speculation that they could be a starting point for negotiations with America’s neighbors to the North and South. He said there was.
BestReviews is reader-supported and may earn affiliate commissions.
Best Prime Day deals of 2024
“Donald Trump has had very few policy views over the last 20 or 30 years. I think this is what he’s most passionate about,” Schatz said. “This is a high principle for him. So I don’t think there’s any reason to think he won’t go through with it. Plus, the law is pretty clear. He has that authority.”
The Hawaii Democrat added that the plan would likely play a large role in the Republican push to extend 2017 tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of 2025.
“I don’t know if Republicans have the guts to try to reverse these price increases, but that’s who they are. Retail price is increased. Commodities coming from Canada, Mexico and China are all products that people buy every week,” Schatz said. “It would be nice if we could make it all ourselves, but that’s not really how the world works and people rely on their ability to afford what they actually buy.”
“We start by making it clear to the American people that these tariffs will increase retail prices for most things you buy,” he continued. “Secondly, they are explicitly using it in return for tax breaks, mainly targeting multinational companies. They will raise your prices. They will take that revenue and use it to subsidize additional tax breaks for multinational corporations, which I think is a huge loss.”
President Trump said the new levy was intended to pressure the three countries to strengthen border security and crack down on fentanyl exports to the United States.
He made similar threats during his first term, including a 200% tariff on cars imported from Mexico and a 60% tariff on Chinese goods, but he never followed through.
But he imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico, prompting the two countries to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement and eventually the three countries agreeing to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
President Trump also imposed billions of dollars worth of tariffs on China after years of complaining that the United States was being taken advantage of by the Asian power.
source link
