(As prepared for delivery)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to Ambassador Greer for being here today.
When you were here a year ago, one may have been able to say a reckless experiment in trade policy was underway. With full confidence, we can now say, it’s a full-blown failure.
The President’s illegal use of emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs has been rejected by the courts, yet the Administration continues to search for new pretexts to raise costs—on the American people, on our allies, on our industries, and now, even on prescription drugs.
The damage is no longer theoretical. Jobs have been lost, supply chains disrupted, and families are paying the price, especially at the grocery store.
Now, they are being forced to weather sky-high gas prices and volatile oil markets—not because of any economic fundamental—but because of the chaos and uncertainty this Administration insists on injecting in the global economy.
Your boss campaigned on lowering prices, just as he campaigned on growing manufacturing and protecting our workers. He’s betrayed both promises, putting a thumb in the eye of organized labor from every angle of the trade agenda.
Let’s review where prices at the store have gone since you were here last.
Beef costs 17 percent more.
Coffee is up 26 percent.
Vegetables cost a whopping 48 percent more.
This is not pocket change, Ambassador Greer.
This is budget-busting for so many who are already struggling to get by.
And it’s amounted to big numbers in the aggregate. $1700 stolen from wallets last year, with over $2500 expected this year. That’s billions siphoned out of the pockets of the American people because of the President’s higher prices. Yet, the Administration continues to insist this is a winning strategy.
Let’s be clear: tariffs can be a tool when used strategically and lawfully. But what we’ve seen over the past year is neither. It’s been a scattershot, across-the-board approach that punishes American consumers, weakens our competitiveness, and isolates us from our allies.
Starting a trade war with much of the world at once was never going to end well, and to no one’s surprise, it hasn’t.
And the legal theory underpinning all of this has collapsed. The courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court, have made clear that IEEPA is not a blank check for the President. He can’t declare an “emergency” whenever it’s politically convenient and raise costs.
What’s troubling is not just the Administration’s actions, but the silence from Republicans in Congress. The Constitution vests trade authority here, with the Ways and Means Committee, yet many of my colleagues have stood by as that authority has been ignored and abused.
These price hikes, these lost jobs, and this economic uncertainty are not just the result of executive overreach. Congressional inaction is to blame too.
Another major departure from rhetoric to reality is just how soft on China this Administration has been. At every turn, choosing to treat our adversaries with more preferential treatment than our allies. Even the Wall Street Journal has noted the dramatic reversal, and our negotiating posture has only been weakened by Trump’s War of Choice in Iran.
The United States can and should do better. Trade policy should be grounded in the law, coordinated with our allies, and focused on strengthening American workers and businesses, not undermining them. It starts with rebuilding the trust that has been so badly damaged, restoring Congress’s rightful role, and reigning in the limits of executive authority.
Any path forward starts with acknowledging what has gone wrong and recommitting to a trade policy that serves the American people.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
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