Mike Rounds Says 'Stability' Needed As Trump Tariff Surprises Continue To Cause Uncertainty

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Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) discusses President Trump's tariffs.

Transcript

00:00How are your constituents feeling about the President's tariff policy right now,

00:06especially as he's talking about a 50% tariff on copper?

00:10Is that something that your constituents would be comfortable with?

00:13I think what we want to do is to put together on a national scale

00:18of more copper being manufactured or processed here within the United States.

00:23When we start talking about his process moving forward,

00:27he's had a number of different opportunities in which he has said,

00:30I'm going to put tariffs on, but I'm going to give people the opportunity to negotiate with us.

00:35We're not going to complain about him trying to fix some of the problems we've got

00:39with some of the critical minerals that we've got to be able to do more here in the United States.

00:43But at the same time, it would be really good to get it behind us

00:46and to get some stability into what we'll be looking at for tariffs.

00:50Understand that we're still only six months into the administration,

00:53but we'd like to get some stability.

00:55The folks in my part of the country are more concerned about retaliation for tariffs that are put on.

01:01We haven't seen them yet, but that's a concern they've got.

01:04In the meantime, we'll give the President the opportunity to negotiate.

01:07When he's done with his negotiations, hopefully this comes back down

01:10and there's a stability in the market.

01:11Is it time for the President to, on sanctions,

01:13to come out forcefully and support this Russia sanctions bill and get off the sidelines?

01:18I don't think he's been on the sidelines.

01:19He hasn't supported it.

01:20I don't think he's been on the sidelines.

01:22His messaging with us has been one of,

01:24I'm going to take a look at it.

01:26I understand.

01:27I want to find a peace process.

01:28I don't want any more killing.

01:29I want to find peace.

01:31So, so far, I think you'll find in the Senate broad support for Ukraine.

01:35I think the President trying to be a mediator just simply hasn't had the success that all of us had hoped he would have.

01:42Now it's time to face the fact that Mr. Putin wants war.

01:46He has no intentions of stopping, as many of us have said from day one.

01:50And I think it's probably becoming more apparent to everybody.

01:53So, you can't simply let him take over a free country.

01:56Ukraine is our ally.

01:57They are our friend.

01:58They may not be part of NATO, but most certainly they're very important to a lot of us here in the United States.

02:03Senator, Secretary Hegseth halted weapons shipment to Ukraine in that time Russia has bombarded the country several times.

02:09What do you make of the halt and the fact that the President seemed to have no idea that it happened?

02:14I can't explain the communications there.

02:16All I can say is that we were very disappointed when we heard that there was going to be a halt in it.

02:20We believe that's been corrected.

02:22We believe the shipments are back on path again.

02:24And we hope it does not happen again.

02:26Do you think Hegseth has handled this appropriately?

02:28That'll be up for the President.

02:30He's the Commander-in-Chief.

02:31The President is the Commander-in-Chief and Secretary Hegseth serves at his pleasure.

02:40Thank you, Senator.

02:41Thank you, Senator.

02:42Thank you, Senator.

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