Mike Crapo Asks Trump Nominee How He Would Work To Reform The World Trade Organization

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At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) spoke about WTO reform.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Senator Warren.

00:04Senator Wyden has had to step away to vote.

00:07He should be back momentarily and he wanted to ask another couple of questions.

00:11So until he returns, I will ask another couple of questions.

00:15And the first one, Mr. Barloon, is for you.

00:21Back to the USTR and WTO reform.

00:25The USTR's five-year report on the WTO indicates a poor record and elusive prospects for reform.

00:33Some of this is certainly outside the control of the United States, but some of the inability

00:37is a result of the prior administration's lack of an active agenda for reform and refusals

00:43to tell partners what it wanted.

00:46The USTR also relied on outside consultants who only focused on interest-based negotiations,

00:52whatever that meant, which never yielded results.

00:56What would be your approach to encourage progress with WTO reforms?

01:02Thank you for that question, Senator.

01:04I think that the United States in the past has been a leader at the WTO, certainly a leader

01:09in the foundation of the WTO.

01:12And if I'm confirmed, I will do my best to work with other members there and to take a

01:16leading role for the United States and to bring about much-needed reform.

01:25Thank you very much.

01:26And Ms. Dillon, in contrast to the multi-employer system, the PBGC's single-employer insurance

01:34fund is healthy.

01:37According to PBGC's latest annual performance report, the single-employer fund was in a positive

01:43net position of $54 billion at the end of fiscal year 2024.

01:50Given its overall positive financial position, what lessons or structural differences in the

01:56single-employer pension system should Congress consider applying to the multi-employer system?

02:02Well, thank you, Senator, for that question.

02:05I think it's an important one.

02:07And it's an interesting question from a historical perspective, because when ERISA was passed,

02:14I think the expectation was single-employer plans would be more risky than multi-employer

02:19plans, because multi-employer plans would have multiple employers funding them.

02:25And so they were structured very differently.

02:27You don't have the variable premiums of multi-employer plans.

02:30The premiums are lower.

02:33And there's less restrictions, as opposed to the single-employer plans.

02:37Now, as we look here today, to your point, the single-employer plan program at the PBGC

02:44is running a significant surplus, whereas a multi-employer plan program, we have plans that are in distress.

02:52The most severely financially distressed plans have been addressed through the SFA, but we

02:59still have plans that are distressed.

03:04And I think Congress has done a lot of work here.

03:06The Senate did a lot of work here.

03:08The Joint Select Committee, I think, had some very good ideas for ways to address these structural

03:14issues.

03:15And if I'm confirmed, I would look forward to working with this committee and Congress to

03:19examine those proposed solutions to potentially apply to the multi-employer program.

03:26Well, thank you very much.

03:30And Mr. Morrissey, I don't really have another question for you, but while we're waiting here,

03:34I thought maybe I'll just respond to some of the things that have been said and get your

03:38opinion on this.

03:39I know that you're not in the policy-making zone right now, and we are, but some of the

03:47things that were said about the tax bill probably needs to be set straight.

03:52The bill has got a score of an alleged score of $4.3 trillion, meaning it's going to increase

03:59the deficit by $4.3 trillion.

04:02The way that happens is it's going to cause a $4.3 trillion tax increase on people if we

04:09don't extend current tax law.

04:11So we're having this big battle over current policy and so forth.

04:15But of that $4.3 trillion tax increase that is going to happen if we don't act, $2.6 trillion

04:22of it is tax increase on people making less than $400,000 a year.

04:29And actually it's less than $200,000 a year because that $400 number is a married couple.

04:35And another $1.7 trillion of it is small businesses and other pass-through organizations.

04:40And then another sizable amount of it is for tax credits to business, for research and

04:47development, for bonus depreciation, it's an increased stepped-up speed of depreciation

04:54and so forth, which generates super investment in the United States in terms of capital.

05:00So I think we ought to understand what we're talking about when we hear these kinds of allegations.

05:05With that, I see that Senator Wyden has arrived and you are welcome to have your next couple

05:09of questions, Senator.

05:10Thank you very much.

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