Rep. Jimmy Panetta Calls Out Trump Administration Trade Policy Chaos, Impact on Working Families
Washington, DC – United States Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) recently questioned U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at a recent House Ways and Means Committee. During his line of questioning, Rep. Panetta called out the faulty economic data behind the Trump Administration’s chaotic tariff policies.
During the hearing, President Trump announced on social media that the Administration would place a 90-day pause on new tariffs on most nations, while raiding tariffs on China to 125 percent. U.S. Trade Representative Greer said he was not informed about this new trade policy.
“It is the largest self-inflicted wound to our economy in history, a self-inflicted wound that if it stays in place, it could constitute the largest tax increase on working families in more than 40 years, costing households more than $3,800,” said Rep. Panetta. “I know that the president is saying, ‘we're getting screwed,’ but the fact is, Trump is screwing us with these incoherent and inchoate tariffs. In the short term and in the long term, domestically and internationally, and for our economy and for our national security, they are making us weaker.”
Rep. Panetta questions the Administration’s top trade representative.
Click play on the above video or click HERE to watch his remarks.
A transcript of Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s remarks during the Ways and Means Committee hearing is below:
“Before this week, talked to a lot of my colleagues about you. They actually said a lot of good things about you. You had a good reputation until this week, I have to say, because I actually wanted to work with you on solutions when it comes to free trade agreements. I think we still can once we get past this, and I hope that's the case, but unfortunately, you're defending a policy here from President Trump that's absolutely incoherent.
“It's a self-imposed tariff regime of ten times the amount of tariffs that were in place before this president took office. It is the largest self-inflicted wound to our economy in history, a self-inflicted wound that if it stays in place, it could constitute the largest tax increase on working families in more than 40 years, costing households more than $3,800.
“Per year, a self-inflicted wound that prompted one of the largest three day moves on the markets since World War II, and it's a self-inflicted wound that's leading investors to expect a severe economic slowdown. Eight years ago, this president talked about American carnage. Little did we know that he would create economic carnage that is spreading something similar across the entire global economy.
“Now the reason for these tariffs is based on a national emergency that we have trade deficits according to him and you. Unfortunately, the president's thinking about trade is reflected in this policy. This weekend, after the markets tanked, after a small businesses fretted and after the president played golf all weekend, the president said, I consider any trade deficit a loss.
“That type of scorecard thinking combined with the president's 40-year fetish for tariffs. That has put this policy in place and put us in the global economy in this position. Now, I know the president is painting all trade deficits as bad, but they are a product of larger macroeconomic factors relating to a number of things as you know well, savings, investments, cultural demographics, and so on.
“But the President is acting completely irrational when it comes to trade deficits. He believes that trade deficits are subsidies paid by Americans to other countries. His scorecard ignores our trade surpluses and services to the tune of $250 billion annually. He is oblivious to the relationship of trade deficits to foreign investment in America in that when we send dollars abroad for goods and services, most of those dollars ultimately come back to America, and he refuses to grasp that tariffs are taxes paid by American importers and Americans, not foreigners.
“A perfect example of this unreasonableness is our reasonable trade deficit with Canada. The reason we have a trade deficit with Canada is because starting with FDR, we entered into an agreement that would sell US oil at well below market prices. We entered into and maintain that deal because we may and we maintain the trade deficit with Canada so that we can buy cheap oil, which is a huge benefit for America.
“And if we took that oil out of our trade relationship, guess what? We'd have a trade surplus. Yet Trump says we're getting ripped off even though we are actually getting the benefit of that sweetheart deal. Now, absolutely, sometimes a trade deficit is a loss. Foreign trade barriers are a problem that includes tariffs and non-tariff barriers, but there are ways to remedy these things.
“Free trade agreements don't require a tariff policy that cripples our economy. Yet due to the President's fetish for tariffs and superficial thinking on trade deficits, the president has imposed a trade policy that makes the global baseline of 10% with countries that have trade surpluses like Singapore, Australia, Netherlands.
“Countries we have free trade agreements are getting tariffs at 10%. Countries that are free trade countries are getting tariff at 10%. It does not make sense.
“If other countries eliminate their tariffs and we eliminate ours, that's just deal making. And we don't raise revenue and businesses don't relocate to the us. If it's a permanent revenues source and you want to relocate to the us, then going to have these tariffs permanently and there are not going to be any deals.
“So, what is clear is that you can't have it both ways. Additionally, tariffs undermine our national security as we're seeing in the Indo-Pacific region. Look, I know the president wants to bring back the rust belt. I get that. But a big part of that is political. It's nostalgia. And nostalgia, as they say, is the rust of memory.
“We are not victims here. Our economy is the envy of the world, partly because it was our choice to invest in other countries over saving. It was our choice to have bilateral trade deficits. This is not some unexpected crisis here. This is no extraordinary or unusual threat. This is because we chose to invest in other countries where labor is cheaper and therefore products are cheaper.
“And as we know it's okay for working families to want to pay low prices for products in this country. I know that the president is saying, ‘we're getting screwed,’ but the fact is, is that Trump is screwing us with these incoherent tariffs. That in the short term and in the long term, domestically and internationally, and for our economy and for our national security, they are making us weaker.”
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