On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that he celebrates investment coming to the U.S. as a result of the Trump tariff policies and “There’s often a very good case for a carefully crafted tariff plan to basically make a fair, level playing field for American manufacturing. But across-the-board tariffs that go against other developed economies” will be harmful.
Co-host Pamela Brown asked, “The administration points to several companies who have announced more investment in the United States as a result of the tariff policy, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Do you think this is a long-term trend or a short-term response to the fluctuating trade policies?”
Merkley responded, “The most carefully crafted tariffs would address very low-cost goods from China that are done under low environmental standards and low labor standards. There’s often a very good case for a carefully crafted tariff plan to basically make a fair, level playing field for American manufacturing. But across-the-board tariffs that go against other developed economies and proceed to have retaliatory tariffs and who knows where it goes from there, that’s just simply a massive interruption of productive international trade and driving up the costs for Americans who can’t afford to have those costs driven up.”
Brown followed up, “But what do you think about the companies that have invested these billions of dollars in the U.S., essentially in response to Trump’s [tariff] policies? Are you willing to concede that that’s a positive that has come out of this?”
Merkley answered, “Listen, I always celebrate investment in the United States. And, again, a carefully crafted strategy, the biggest factor is where you have companies that are in China or [other very] low-cost places that say, hey, the United States is going to pursue a fairer, more level trading policy, and we’re going to invest more in America. But realize that a lot of American companies will be hard-hit [on] their own productivity because of the cost of goods coming in, the components into what they manufacture go up in cost, then their price they have to charge goes up, which can make them less competitive on the international stage. So, this is a strategy that can cut in many different directions.”
Merkley also cited the risk of other countries responding with retaliatory tariffs.
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