James Horsford Grills US Trade Rep On Tariff Pause, Accuses Admin Of 'Market Manipulation'

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During a House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, Rep. James Horsford (D-NV) asked US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about President Trump's decision to pause all reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Mr. Horsford. Thank you Chairman Smith and to the ranking member. Mr. Trade

00:07Representative, are you aware that the tariffs have been paused? I am, yes. When

00:13when when were you made aware of that? Well I understood the decision was made

00:16a few minutes ago. Sitting here under discussion. Sitting here under discussion.

00:21So did you know that the that this was under discussion and why did you not

00:24include that as part of your opening remarks? So typically what I don't do is

00:29divulge the contents of my discussions. What are the details of the pause? Well

00:34my understanding is that because so many countries have decided not to retaliate

00:39we're going to have about 90 days. No, excuse me. You you we are the China

00:45increased their tariffs on the United States. Trump blinked. What's the blink sir?

00:53What do you know about this pause? What are the details of it? Well the details as

00:59I understand it is that China continues to retaliate. Other countries didn't

01:03retaliate. The president two or three days ago said we wanted to negotiate with

01:07those countries that asked for that asked for meetings. That's what we're doing.

01:10What are the details? How long is the pause? How many days? How many weeks? I

01:14understand it's 90 days. I haven't spoken to the president since I saw the trade

01:18representative hasn't spoken to the president of the United States about a

01:23global reordering of trade. Yes I have. And yet he announced it on a tweet. WTF who's in

01:33charge? The president United States is in charge. And what do you know about those

01:38details? Well as I mentioned it looks like your boss just pulled the rug out

01:43from under you and paused the tariffs the taxes on the American people. There's no

01:49strategy. You just found out three seconds ago sitting here we saw you. We've been

01:55discussing it. If you came here knowing that you are going to be turned off that

02:00these tariffs were going to be turned off why didn't you include that in your

02:04opening statement? Why didn't you reference that as part of your testimony?

02:08Well I don't disclose my conversations with the president sir. These were specific

02:13questions we asked you all along. What's the strategy? These are real

02:17consequences for the American people and small businesses. I had a group of small

02:22businesses in my office earlier today talking about the impacts of these

02:26tariffs on aluminum and steel. This is amateur hour and it needs to stop. What

02:34does this even mean for your negotiating strategy? How are you in charge of

02:39negotiation if the president is tweeting about this from wherever the hell he is?

02:46The president was elected and he runs the trade policy and I advise him and

02:51execute his trade policy. Who executes the trade policy? Did you know that this was

02:55happening? We have been discussing all kinds of... And there's another member of the

02:59cabinet, Besant, who just canceled coming to the Hill to avoid talking about the

03:05market because it's in turmoil. This in just days because there was no strategy.

03:11There was no plan. The president chose to take actions that he didn't even have the

03:19authority to take. He's put our economy in disarray and near collapse. We have small

03:28businesses and Americans who are concerned about their well-being. People's

03:33retirement, people's 529 accounts went down because of this administration. We have

03:42people that are planning to send their kids to college this fall. Retire people

03:48who are retirement retiring whose benefits have declined. Is this market

03:56manipulation? No. Why not? If it was a plan, if it was always the

04:03plan, how is this not market manipulation? It's not market manipulation, sir.

04:08Then what is it? Because it sure is not a strategy. We're trying to reset the

04:12global trade system. It's offshore all of our factories. And what has that done?

04:16How have you achieved any of that? But to enact enormous harm on the American people,

04:24which was our concern from the very beginning. Tariffs are a tool. It can be used in the

04:30appropriate way to protect U.S. jobs and small businesses. But that's not what this does.

04:37So if it's not market manipulation, what is it? Who's benefiting? What billionaire just got richer?

04:47And all the while, there are not even any Republicans left in this hearing. They all left because they

04:55don't even want to defend this. But meanwhile, the speaker is rushing to the floor to pass a budget

05:00reconciliation to screw America by passing the biggest tax cut in history on the backs of the American people?

05:08WTF? Who's in charge? Because it sure doesn't look like it's the trade representative. You just got the rug pulled

05:20out from under you. I wish I could feel some empathy. But the empathy I have is for the American people whose very well-being

05:33and livelihoods are being affected. This is not a game. This is real life. I yield back.

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