Wall Street rebounded to the green as several foreign countries came to the tariff negotiation table with President Donald Trump, but as Republicans said, it wasn’t enough to ease lawmakers’ criticism of “Alla Prima” tariff actions.
US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday proved that the US had been flooded for a long time due to a “Chinese shock” (the surge in production output from communist countries since the turn of the century), and that the US had been shut down five million manufacturing jobs and 90,000 factories that have been shut down since the middle of the Clinton administration.
“President Biden left a $1.2 trillion trade deficit, the largest trade deficit in world history,” Greer said.
“During Covid, we were unable to procure semiconductors to build cars or materials for pharmaceuticals and personal protective equipment. During World War II, we built around 9,000 ships. Last year, the US built only three marine vessels.”
Stocks jump when Trump’s tariff negotiations begin
US trade representative Jamieson Greer testified before the Senate Finance Committee on the Office Building of the Darksen Senate. (Getty Images)
Greer said that while the United States has historically been on the surplus side of agricultural trade, friendly countries like Australia have recently been said to have essentially refused to export beef and pork, but the United States has not travelled back and forth with livestock.
It became a painful subject during a particularly intense exchange between Greer and Sen. Mark Warner, Sen. Greer, as lawmakers unnecessarily claimed Canberra that “destroyed” Canberra with a 10% tariff.
“We have a free trade agreement with Australia,” he said.
Democrats and the media used to laugh at Trump as they were tariffs on unmanned Australian islands in the Indian Ocean. Howard Lutnick’s Secretary of Commerce was to close potential loopholes over the weekend to avoid tariffs on the mainland of such countries.
Greer claims that Australia is being charged with a “lowest available fee” and leads Warner to ask again, “Why were they banged in the first place?”
“in spite of [free trade] Agree, they ban our beef, ban our pork, they are prepared to impose measures on our digital companies – that’s incredible,” Greer said.
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Warner later admitted that the market had rebounded “blip” by noon, but that the Wall Street contact equated it with a “good day at hospice.”
Meanwhile, Ron Wyden, a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he drafted a bipartisan resolution to “end global tariffs running through American families and small businesses.”
“Members on both sides of the aisle should know that this is a call to action and that Congress must intervene to keep this president in trade,” Wyden said.
He called the tariffs “purposeless” and “confusing” and said it showed that Congress had given way too much constitutional power to the administrative bodies.
In his testimony, Greer called trade imbalances an indicator of both economic and national security emergency.
He also suggested that American allies are strengthening unfair policies towards American consumers, including the European Union.
“[They] They can sell us all the shellfish they want, but the EU bans shellfish from 48 states. This led to a shellfish trade deficit with the EU,” he said.
China refuses to return to tariffs
“We only charge 2.5% tariffs on ethanol, but Brazil charges 18% tariffs. The result is that we have a large trade deficit on ethanol with Brazil.”
“Our average tariff on agricultural products is 5%, while the average tariff in India is 39%. We understand the trends here.”
In response to some of Wyden’s concerns, Greer said Vietnam is already negotiating a lower tariff on US cherry and apples exported from Oregon and the northwest.
“This is exactly the right direction we want to enter,” Greer said.
I-Vt. Senator Bernie Sanders of the United States, who took a more central tone on tariffs, saying he was not a “great fan of free trade,” but ended his work and opposed normalized relations with China.
Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, located in the Darksen Senate Office building in Capitol Hill, April 20, 2023, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
He also cited manufacturing outsourcing to Mexico, killing hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and saying that many Mexicans “live in cardboard boxes.”
“That’s the type of trade policy I hate. But I want to move into the region to talk about the legal basis for what President Trump did,” he said.
Sanders said he lives 50 miles from Canada and has not seen the same empirical data on illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling that Trump accused Ottawa of not acting and accusing him of being incorporated into his tariff calculations.
On the Republican side, R-Idaho Chairman Michael Krapo had largely been postponed to Trump and Greer, but other Republicans also expressed concern.
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Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said Congress “delegated too many powers to the president” but would support the president as long as his mission is to “turn it into a trade contract to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers.”
“I made it very clear through public services that I am a free and fair trader. The Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate interstate and foreign commercial transactions. In the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the Trade Act of 1974, I think Congress delegated too many powers to the President,” he said.
Furthermore, Rn.C. Senator Thom Tillis of Greer pushed Greer that, depending on the outcome of his tariff action, he should be considered as someone who should ultimately be considered responsible for either praise or accountability.
“Whose throat should I suffocate?” he said. He emphasized that the phrase was borrowed from the Management Consulting Mantra.
Charles Kraitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers the media, politics and culture of Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
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