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Mike Crapo Asks Trump Nominee How He Would Work To Reform The World Trade Organization
Forbes Breaking News
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6/4/2025
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) spoke about WTO reform.
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00:00
Thank you, Senator Warren.
00:04
Senator Wyden has had to step away to vote.
00:07
He should be back momentarily and he wanted to ask another couple of questions.
00:11
So until he returns, I will ask another couple of questions.
00:15
And the first one, Mr. Barloon, is for you.
00:21
Back to the USTR and WTO reform.
00:25
The USTR's five-year report on the WTO indicates a poor record and elusive prospects for reform.
00:33
Some of this is certainly outside the control of the United States, but some of the inability
00:37
is a result of the prior administration's lack of an active agenda for reform and refusals
00:43
to tell partners what it wanted.
00:46
The USTR also relied on outside consultants who only focused on interest-based negotiations,
00:52
whatever that meant, which never yielded results.
00:56
What would be your approach to encourage progress with WTO reforms?
01:02
Thank you for that question, Senator.
01:04
I think that the United States in the past has been a leader at the WTO, certainly a leader
01:09
in the foundation of the WTO.
01:12
And if I'm confirmed, I will do my best to work with other members there and to take a
01:16
leading role for the United States and to bring about much-needed reform.
01:25
Thank you very much.
01:26
And Ms. Dillon, in contrast to the multi-employer system, the PBGC's single-employer insurance
01:34
fund is healthy.
01:37
According to PBGC's latest annual performance report, the single-employer fund was in a positive
01:43
net position of $54 billion at the end of fiscal year 2024.
01:50
Given its overall positive financial position, what lessons or structural differences in the
01:56
single-employer pension system should Congress consider applying to the multi-employer system?
02:02
Well, thank you, Senator, for that question.
02:05
I think it's an important one.
02:07
And it's an interesting question from a historical perspective, because when ERISA was passed,
02:14
I think the expectation was single-employer plans would be more risky than multi-employer
02:19
plans, because multi-employer plans would have multiple employers funding them.
02:25
And so they were structured very differently.
02:27
You don't have the variable premiums of multi-employer plans.
02:30
The premiums are lower.
02:33
And there's less restrictions, as opposed to the single-employer plans.
02:37
Now, as we look here today, to your point, the single-employer plan program at the PBGC
02:44
is running a significant surplus, whereas a multi-employer plan program, we have plans that are in distress.
02:52
The most severely financially distressed plans have been addressed through the SFA, but we
02:59
still have plans that are distressed.
03:04
And I think Congress has done a lot of work here.
03:06
The Senate did a lot of work here.
03:08
The Joint Select Committee, I think, had some very good ideas for ways to address these structural
03:14
issues.
03:15
And if I'm confirmed, I would look forward to working with this committee and Congress to
03:19
examine those proposed solutions to potentially apply to the multi-employer program.
03:26
Well, thank you very much.
03:30
And Mr. Morrissey, I don't really have another question for you, but while we're waiting here,
03:34
I thought maybe I'll just respond to some of the things that have been said and get your
03:38
opinion on this.
03:39
I know that you're not in the policy-making zone right now, and we are, but some of the
03:47
things that were said about the tax bill probably needs to be set straight.
03:52
The bill has got a score of an alleged score of $4.3 trillion, meaning it's going to increase
03:59
the deficit by $4.3 trillion.
04:02
The way that happens is it's going to cause a $4.3 trillion tax increase on people if we
04:09
don't extend current tax law.
04:11
So we're having this big battle over current policy and so forth.
04:15
But of that $4.3 trillion tax increase that is going to happen if we don't act, $2.6 trillion
04:22
of it is tax increase on people making less than $400,000 a year.
04:29
And actually it's less than $200,000 a year because that $400 number is a married couple.
04:35
And another $1.7 trillion of it is small businesses and other pass-through organizations.
04:40
And then another sizable amount of it is for tax credits to business, for research and
04:47
development, for bonus depreciation, it's an increased stepped-up speed of depreciation
04:54
and so forth, which generates super investment in the United States in terms of capital.
05:00
So I think we ought to understand what we're talking about when we hear these kinds of allegations.
05:05
With that, I see that Senator Wyden has arrived and you are welcome to have your next couple
05:09
of questions, Senator.
05:10
Thank you very much.
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5:39
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