00:00As the Secretary of Commerce, I do want to ask about the fact that there are no ships carrying goods from China bound for the West Coast right now.
00:10President Trump said earlier this week that drops in imports is actually a good thing because it's going to affect people's wallets and jobs.
00:21Well, he said it's a good thing because it shows that the imports are, that the tariffs are working.
00:24But in reality, it's going to affect people's wallets and jobs.
00:28Truck drivers, port workers, American consumers.
00:32So my question for you is, how is that a good thing?
00:36Well, I think the point that the president makes with his tariffs is that America has a $1.2 trillion trade deficit.
00:46That means other people are selling us goods that more than we are selling them.
00:52And that's just not balanced. It's not fair.
00:55We're losing $1.2 trillion a year, of which directly and indirectly to China, that's about a trillion dollars.
01:03You know, China sells goods to Vietnam.
01:06Vietnam repackages them and sells them to us.
01:08So the idea is the president wants balanced and fair trade and tariffs are the tool to create balanced and fair trade.
01:17It's just unsustainable for $1.2 trillion to be exported to the rest of the world, meaning our money is going to the rest of the world.
01:26It's building them up. And over time, it's taken us down.
01:30And the president's here to fix it. So that's what he's trying to do with his tariffs.
01:34And I understand what you're talking about with regard to sort of economic policy.
01:39But there's economic policy and then there's how people in the United States actually feel and the immediate effect on them.
01:47So just to be clear, are you saying that ultimately fixing what the president sees as a problem, which you just described,
01:54is going to mean that the American people, whether they work at a port or whether they're truck drivers or whether they're consumers,
02:01they're just going to have to suffer in the short term, maybe even longer?
02:06No, no, no. Let's take a look at the UK deal we did on, we announced on Thursday, right?
02:12We opened the pot, the opportunity for Americans to export to the United Kingdom $5 billion more than they've ever had the right before.
02:23You had beef, ethanol, row crops, vegetables, fruits, cereals, sodas, machinery.
02:33I mean, just the list goes on and on.
02:35So the idea for the president is, look, we published our rates on Liberation Day.
02:41Negotiate with us. Bring those rates down by opening your markets to Americans who can export.
02:47So what's going to happen is we're going to have imports.
02:49Of course, our ports, we are the consumer of the world.
02:53I mean, we consumed $20 trillion worth of stuff.
02:58But that is stopping now.
03:00The world wants to sell us stuff.
03:01But it's not happening right now because of the president's terror policies.
03:05No, no, no. It's only stopping.
03:07Look, we are in a negotiation with China.
03:11We agree. It has stopped 145% on China.
03:15Of course that stops it.
03:17But they're negotiating that right now.
03:20We are optimistic that that will open.
03:22But what the president's tariff policy is, is let's open all the markets in the world that have been closed to us.
03:30Let's get that opportunity for Americans to export to them.
03:33Let's really, really help Americans export.
03:36And of course, those people who import are going to have great businesses.
03:40We are the greatest economy in the world.
03:42Everybody wants to come here.
03:44As the president likes to say, everybody likes to shop here with our consumers.
03:49And it's going to work out great.
03:51The UK shows you how great it can really be.
Comments