00:06Under the previous Biden administration, we had zero trade deals.
00:10And in just five months, we're seeing more cooperation from Mexico and Canada as it relates to the border and fentanyl.
00:18UK, you have a trade deal there.
00:20China, we have a framework.
00:22Congratulations on the success in last night's meeting.
00:25India, Japan, they are now at the table, as are dozens of other countries.
00:30And I think it's really important as we approach that July 9th date there for lifting the hold or the pause on the tariffs that we take into account that we do have these partners who are working with us in good faith.
00:44And I hope and I urge the administration to not reinstate the tariffs for the nations that are at the table, that are working with us to reduce the tariffs, the trade deficits, and increase our market access for our products.
00:58And I would just like to get your opinion on that if you agree that we should have a more targeted approach.
01:02Let's focus on the most egregious offenders who are not as willing to work with us to rectify that.
01:07Well, we are focusing on the most egregious, and there, as I've said, there are 18 important trading partners.
01:16Most of them account for north of 90% of the trade deficit.
01:22So our largest trading partners are, many of them, the biggest problem.
01:27Many of them have, as I've said, have come with good offers and are working in good faith.
01:34It will be up to President Trump, but it is my belief that if someone is negotiating in good faith, that an extension will be possible.
01:44And in conversations with USTR Ambassador Greer, it's my belief that with smaller countries where we have lower levels of trade, we may be able to do a one-size-fits-all regional deal.
02:01So that would cover a great deal of ground on dozens of countries.
02:06I wish you a lot of success there, and I appreciate that.
02:08And I also want to keep in mind that if we want to build in America, as the president, as you, as I, and this committee wants to do, we need to make sure that we have access to parts and supplies from abroad.
02:19So let's keep that in mind as well as we're moving forward with the tariff discussions.
02:24I'm concerned about tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
02:27In particular, it's an access issue.
02:29It's an affordability issue.
02:30It's a national security issue.
02:33As you know, right now, we're relying heavily on foreign countries, particularly communist China.
02:39But domestic pharmaceutical production requires long-term investment and to establish a secure and self-reliant supply chain here at home.
02:46It's something that you can't just flip the switch on.
02:48It does take time.
02:49And certainly the provisions you mentioned earlier that we put in our one big, beautiful bill will help us get there, incentivize, expand facilities, build new facilities.
02:57But until we reach that full domestic production capability, the U.S. remains dangerously dependent on foreign sources for life-saving medicines and medical inputs.
03:08And so I hope that we'll take that into account when we look at tariffs and not place tariffs on pharmaceuticals that we desperately need here in the United States.
03:17I, alongside with my colleague, Congressman Schneider, we introduced bipartisan legislation, HR 2213, the Medical Supply Chain Resiliency Act.
03:28And we learned from COVID that we must, obviously, that our supply chain is too fragile and we need to do what we can to make it more accessible, these pharmaceuticals.
03:38My legislation would address this by enhancing the President's ability to negotiate trade agreements with trusted trade partners to reduce or eliminate tariffs, quotas, and other barriers that create a disincentive to manufacturing here in the United States.
03:53It would ensure that critical medical goods and supplies and services are delivered safely, quickly, efficiently to patients here at home.
04:01And I hope that you'll take a look at this bill.
04:03It has some good bipartisan support, good industry support, and it really does complement what we did in the one big, beautiful bill to incentivize and give the President that flexibility to negotiate with those trading partners.
04:16Yeah, Congressman, I, Congressman, I, Congressman, I could not agree with you more.
04:21The only good outcome from COVID was it showed us our strategic deficiencies in areas like semiconductors and especially pharma.
04:33As you mentioned, a large part of our pharma does come from the PRC.
04:39That actually gives them negotiating leverage.
04:42I think it would be a tragic, tragic mistake if they were ever to flip off that switch, but it's always there.
04:51They could.
04:52They flipped off other switches.
04:55India, who is a more reliable, durable partner, is also a large supplier, but we do need to bring that home.
05:04Well, great.
05:05I look forward to working with you on that, and an endorsement from you of my legislation would be very welcome.
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