Attorney Behind Lawsuit To End Trump's Tariffs Argues That Tariff Policy Makes Main Street Poorer

Forbes Breaking News

On "Forbes Newsroom," Ilya Somin, a legal scholar and attorney, discussed his and the Liberty Justice Center's lawsuit against the Trump Administration which aims to end the President's tariffs, and the effects of the tariffs on small businesses.

Transcript

00:00Tariff rates are at the highest we've seen them since pre-Great Depression.

00:04As you stated, you're representing five businesses that are greatly impacted by these tariffs.

00:10How are the tariffs impacting them specifically? Can you tell us that?

00:14So these are businesses in various different sectors of the economy,

00:17ranging from wine imports to fishing equipment and other matters.

00:23This was explained at the Liberty Justice Center website in more detail.

00:27But the basic story is that all of them import various products or components from abroad

00:34that either cannot be acquired in the United States or can only be acquired at much greater cost.

00:39And also, in some cases, the products are unique, as in the case of our wine client,

00:45who imports wine from, I think, five different continents around the world.

00:50And some of the I'm no I'm no wine expert myself.

00:53I'm not much of a connoisseur, I have to admit.

00:55But people who do appreciate and understand fine wine,

00:58they know that there's distinctive taste that come from particular wineries

01:02that simply can't be replicated by a substitute.

01:06So they would suffer great harm.

01:08And there are similar stories for other clients with respect to the products or inputs that they import.

01:14And if you look at firms around the country in a vast range of different industries,

01:21you will see similar stories that there's a reason why we import these products that has to do with price, quality and other matters.

01:29And if we block their importation or make it extremely cost-free with tariffs, we're all going to be poorer.

01:36We're going to be paying more for the products that we consume.

01:38We're going to have less variety and choice.

01:41And many American jobs will also be threatened because many Americans, like the employees of some of our clients,

01:47work for businesses that depend on imports for the things that they produce.

01:52I've spoken with economists, other small businesses,

01:57and while the White House is saying that these tariffs are to help Main Street now,

02:01it's Main Streets turn, not Wall Streets,

02:04these small businesses are saying that's really not the case.

02:07But I want to read something from the White House.

02:09White House spokesman Harrison Fields said this in a statement to CNN.

02:12Never Trumpers will always oppose him,

02:15but President Trump is standing up for Main Street by putting an end to our trading partners,

02:19especially China, exploiting the U.S.

02:21His plan levels the playing field for businesses and workers

02:24to address our country's national emergency of chronic trade deficits.

02:29What do you make of that reaction?

02:33It's utter claptrap.

02:34Ask economists to cross the political spectrum.

02:37Weft, Reicher, they will tell you the same thing.

02:39You're not helping Main Street by making them poorer,

02:42by raising their prices of their goods and so forth,

02:45and also by, in many cases, costing them their jobs

02:48and harming them in all sorts of other ways.

02:52And that's not even to mention the retaliation that other countries are going to impose

02:56against our exports that will still further damage Main Street.

03:00One of the things that experts and economists across the political spectrum agree on

03:05is that free trade is beneficial,

03:06and protectionism would perhaps extremely rare exceptions as harmful.

03:10And I will add, if all of this is about China,

03:13then why is he tariffing the other 179 nations that are on this tariff list,

03:17including ones that impose no tariffs at all on the United States,

03:21such as Switzerland and Israel?

03:23If I'm an ever-Trumper, it is for good reason.

03:26It is because he has a history of cruel and unjust and harmful policies

03:30and abuses of power like this one.

Category

Transcript

Recommended