Tariff Strategy Under Fire in Senate Finance Committee

The Senate Finance Committee reviewed tariffs and trade policy during Tuesday’s hearing. Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden had many questions about the trade policies coming from the Trump administration. “What is the plan? In the last week. The White House has been all over the map when it comes to this question. There is no clear message of how the tariffs were determined, what they are supposed to accomplish, how long they will be in place, whether they are a negotiating tool or a move to try and cut the United States off from global trade and usher in a new era of 1870s style protectionism.” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer underscored the need for addressing the national debt emergency and described the tariff strategy as a negotiating tool. Greer also highlighted the White House’s desire to have products made in America. “The most certain way to not have a tariff is to build your factory in the United States. If people want to use other countries and insist on that, then we want to make sure that they’re not using that to arbitrage for higher-tariff jurisdictions to use them as an unfair export platform.”