Chris Van Hollen Asks Nom How EU Allies Can 'De-Risk' Economies From China Amid Trump's EU Tariffs

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) spoke about President Trump's tariffs on European allies.

Transcript

00:00Senator Redham. Thank you, Senator, and congratulations to all of you on your

00:04your nominations. Dr. Kapoor, I had good discussions with the Indian and

00:10Pakistani parliamentary delegations that were in Washington last week in the

00:16aftermath of the India-Pakistan crisis. As you know, President Trump and

00:24Secretary Rubio have taken credit for bringing about the ceasefire. As you

00:28probably already know, the Indian government has denied that the ceasefire

00:34resulted from American mediation, but regardless, there's a fragile ceasefire

00:39in place. Secretary Rubio said this on May 10th, and I'm quoting, I am pleased to

00:46announce the governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate

00:49ceasefire and to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site, unquote.

00:56So, Dr. Kapoor, if you are confirmed, what broad set of issues will you push

01:05India and Pakistan to discuss? Thank you, Senator, for the question. So, I'm not

01:12familiar with exactly what issues the Secretary had in mind when he when he

01:16talked about that. I think that as somebody from the outside looking in, it

01:22looked to me as if the administration and senior leadership in the administration,

01:28the Secretary, the Vice President, were actively involved in using their good

01:31offices to encourage de-escalation in the crisis. And I think that probably had a

01:36salutary effect. In the end, India and Pakistan have to decide for themselves, and

01:42did in this case, too, decided for themselves to de-escalate. And that will be the case. If I could, just

01:48because, you know, again, you'll be the Assistant Secretary of Confirmed, and I'm

01:51just quoting what the Secretary of State, your boss, said. He said that they

01:56would agree, they agreed to start talks on a broad set of issues. And you're

02:00saying you don't, you don't have any idea what the Secretary was talking about

02:03with respect to broad sets of issues? I don't know the issues that he had in

02:06mind. It wasn't part of the government at that time, so I wasn't privy to those

02:09discussions. Okay. Well, broad does imply, does it not, sort of a comprehensive range of

02:14issues between the two countries? It could. It seems it would. I'm just curious

02:22about where, where that is going. I have raised in the last couple years concerns

02:29about, you know, Pakistan's backsliding on, on democracy, also concerns about issues

02:36of crackdown on freedom of speech in India and Pakistan, and I will submit some

02:41questions for you, to the record, for you on those points. So, thank you. Mr. Puzder,

02:48I, I want to really pick up on Senator Barrasso's questions, because during the

02:54first administration, many of us worked with the administration to urge our

03:00European partners to de-risk their relationship with China, their economic

03:06relationship. We spent a lot of time urging them not to adopt Huawei technology and other

03:14issues, and that actually was continued, that policy during, during the Biden

03:18administration. But during this Trump administration, since the president called

03:24for, quote, liberation day tariffs, we've seen our European partners obviously express

03:32great concerns. And, you know, President von der Leyen, who was one of those who'd

03:40been advocating for de-risking from China, has talked about expanding trade and

03:47investment ties to China. She said not that long ago to her European colleagues,

03:54quote, I know many of you feel let down by our oldest ally. If you take on one of us, you

04:01take on all of us. So, my question to you is pretty straightforward. How do we convince our

04:09European partners to de-risk their economies from China, when we are putting their

04:14economies at risk through our trade, our tariff and other policies? How do we, how do we

04:19tell them, don't deal with China, but we're going to whack you with all these

04:24tariffs? Thank you, Senator. Again, as, as a follow-up to Senator Barrasso's question,

04:30that's very timely. The, the most important thing we need to do is reach a trade

04:35agreement with the European Union, and I know we are aggressively pursuing, reaching

04:39that agreement. While that agreement, while we're pursuing those negotiations, both

04:44sides are going to say things. We'll see what, how, what comes out in the, in the

04:48final wash, but I know from comments, and, and really only from things I've read,

04:53because again, I'm a citizen, I'm not read in on any of this, but reading what

04:57Trade Representative Greer has had to say, and also reading what President

05:00von der Leyen has been saying, and again, Trade Rep. Maro Sefcovic, there, there's

05:05great interest in reaching an agreement with the United States. There's very

05:07concerns, you know, there's bribery allegations with respect to China in

05:12Europe. There's concerns with their trade practices. There are concerns with dumping of

05:16products in Europe. So I, I believe that we can work in our, out an agreement with the

05:21European Union. I think it's in their interest and our interest, and I think

05:24they're pursuing it aggressively.

05:26Well, thank you. And Senator, just in, in closing, I was quoting from the President

05:31of the EU, and she also said, quote, our message is clear. Europe is reliable,

05:37predictable, and open for fair business, unquote, meaning, they will happily do

05:44business with anyone in the world, including very much China. And clearly, when

05:50she said they're reliable and predictable to the rest of the world, the message was

05:55the United States is not reliable and predictable. So, you got a lot of work to

05:58do, if you're confirmed. And I think that you've, I think, unfortunately, the Trump

06:04administration to date has made your job much harder. Thank you, Mr. Senator.

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