00:06I want to thank my colleague from New Hampshire, my colleague from Vermont,
00:10both giving extraordinarily thoughtful, you know, comments.
00:15The reality is, when you talk about these deals,
00:19what you're really talking about, the Trump agreements,
00:23is essentially giving our country a few lines scratched on a napkin.
00:28There is very little there there.
00:32And I so appreciate my colleagues seeking to free our citizens
00:38from crushing new trade taxes courtesy of Donald Trump's tariffs.
00:43He slapped tariffs on things people buy from scores of countries.
00:47So he's hit cars and car parts, aluminum, beer, food and clothing.
00:51The list goes on and on.
00:53What that means is that Americans are going to pay more
00:57to buy the things they need because Trump taxes jack up the price.
01:04This month, Donald Trump has been announcing these so-called trade deals
01:09with a handful of countries.
01:11So as I indicated, these aren't really much.
01:15The USMCA, which was something that Donald Trump participated in,
01:21was a real trade deal.
01:23It was the result of intense negotiations, a transparent process,
01:26a bipartisan vote in the Congress.
01:28I was honored to be the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee
01:32as we worked together to get this passed.
01:35That deal produced real wins for the American people,
01:38like Oregon potato growers who were able to ship US potatoes in Mexico
01:42for the first time in decades.
01:48Donald Trump's latest deals mostly consist of a tariff number,
01:5220% on products from Vietnam, for example,
01:56with some sort of fake or vague promise that the rest will be figured out later.
02:03Instead of having an enforceable binding agreement that opens markets to US farmers
02:08and manufacturers and small businesses now, as I say,
02:12we get a little bit of verbiage put on a napkin or a piece of paper.
02:18Not surprisingly, when Trump describes the deals,
02:21his story is often enormously different from what these countries say they agreed to.
02:27For example, Japan says it will provide up to $550 billion of financing in the United States.
02:34That's fine.
02:36Donald Trump claims Japan promised to create a $550 billion fund
02:40that will be spent at his direction, essentially a personal slush fund.
02:46Meanwhile, Vietnam has not even confirmed that it's agreed to the deal that Donald Trump announced.
02:52What does our country get in exchange for these higher tariffs
02:56that are paid by our people?
02:59Significant economic pain.
03:01U.S. workers and employers are already getting battered by the trade chaos of Donald Trump.
03:07The big three U.S. automakers all announced plunging profits.
03:12General Motors lost more than a billion dollars due to tariffs.
03:16Instead of making U.S. automakers better off, his new tariff scheme is going to make cars and trucks,
03:21our cars and trucks more expensive compared to Japanese competitors.
03:27It's going to get worse.
03:29Because of Donald Trump's endless flip-flops on tariffs,
03:32the real cost of his trade taxes are going to go fully into effect in coming months.
03:38Donald Trump can do all this because he basically goes off, does his own thing,
03:43and is claiming emergency powers to pursue the tariffs.
03:47My colleagues and I are proposing straightforward legislation to clarify the president's emergency powers.
03:55We say they've got to be used in emergencies and can't be used to put tariffs on the things Americans buy from other countries.
04:02A number of our Republican colleagues have supported Senator Shaheen's proposal in the past.
04:08Putting a check on the president's power to land us in trade wars didn't used to be a partisan effort.
04:14Senator Welch, Senator Markey, a number of my colleagues and I want to exempt small businesses from having to pay Trump's emergency tariffs.
04:23That's because these small businesses are the least able to absorb big new government taxes on the materials they need to buy to make their goods.
04:33The bill my colleagues and Senator Shaheen and I are trying to pass today would rein in some of Donald Trump's worst impulses.
04:41The Shaheen legislation would clarify that the laws on the books were never meant, never, to be a blank check for the president to abuse tariffs by using them as a punishment against a country,
04:53maybe multiple countries, that are hurting his feelings.
04:57At the same time, my home state of Oregon is fighting these tariffs in court with arguments that will happen tomorrow.
05:04Donald Trump and his billionaire allies aren't going to feel the impact of higher tariffs.
05:10So I guess that may be why they don't care about the millions of Americans who do care deeply and can't afford higher costs.
05:19Congress and the courts have to make clear that the tariff roller coaster in America has got to be stopped.
05:26I thank my colleagues for their leadership on this issue. I yield the floor.
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