00:00Senator from Vermont.
00:02These tariffs are terrible.
00:05Number one, let's be clear, they're a tax.
00:09So every tariff is going to be paid for by every consumer in this country,
00:14and it's going to be an expense for every business in this country.
00:20That's number one.
00:22Number two, these tariffs are totally chaotic
00:26and creating an immense amount of uncertainty
00:29so that businesses don't know what is the tariff from one day to the next.
00:35And the least desirable situation for any of our businesses
00:40is when there is total uncertainty about what governmental policy is.
00:45Mr. President, the challenges to our consumers and to our businesses are universal.
00:52Every consumer in every state, every business in every state,
00:55faces the threat of these higher expenses that go to consumers
01:01in this incredible uncertainty that's inflicted on businesses.
01:06But my legislation, the creating access to necessary American-Canadian Duty Adjustments Act,
01:16the Canada Act, co-sponsored by Leader Schumer,
01:19by my colleague Senator Shaheen, Senator Murkowski of Alaska, Senator Kaine, Senator Collins,
01:25Senator Markey, and Senator Wyden, focuses special attention on our small businesses.
01:32And the reason for that is, as challenging as this is for every business,
01:38it's especially so for small businesses.
01:41They do not have the margin to deal with these price swings.
01:46They don't have the margin to adjust to the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday policy changes.
01:54They don't have the margin to be able to absorb a huge hit in their expenses
01:59on the basis of whether a shipment that they were awaiting from another country
02:03was delivered on Monday or Friday.
02:07And that literally is what is happening.
02:09Our small businesses are so profoundly important to us in Vermont,
02:14and I know that's true in West Virginia.
02:15I know it's true in New Hampshire.
02:17And we have got to be doing things that help them,
02:21and we should not be doing something that really hurts them,
02:25and that's these tariffs.
02:28The impact to us on Vermont is especially acute in our proximity to Canada.
02:35Mr. President, Canada is Vermont's major trading partner.
02:42But Vermont is hardly unique.
02:44Thirty-four states in our country have as their major trading partner Canada.
02:51So we've got to level with the American people, the people we represent.
02:57The president is suggesting that these tariffs are nothing but pure revenue for our country.
03:08You know what?
03:09It is revenue for our country,
03:11but it's revenue that is paid for by our consumers and by our businesses.
03:18And as Senator Shaheen has so eloquently stated,
03:22we have got a serious affordability crisis in this country.
03:26People who work hard, who work full-time,
03:30cannot afford to pay their bills at the end of the month.
03:34Our businesses that are operating with enormous efficiency
03:39and who are super concerned about the price consciousness of consumers
03:45and are doing everything they can to keep their prices down
03:48but have enough of a profit to keep the lights on and keep people employed.
03:53They are overwhelmed by what is happening with these tariffs
03:57and how it is inflicting uncertainty and causing them to have layoffs.
04:03And you know what?
04:04Those small businesses do not have the pricing power that our major businesses have.
04:10They can deal with it.
04:11They've got market power.
04:13And I'm actually on their side
04:15because I don't think they should be subject to these horrible tariffs.
04:19But what I do have some appreciation for is the fact
04:23that the small businesses just don't have that margin,
04:26no matter how hard they work,
04:28no matter how carefully they plan,
04:30no matter how committed their workforce is.
04:34If you have this tariff that creates a tsunami of uncertainty and expense,
04:39that jeopardizes their ability to hang on.
04:44And let me just go through some of the effects on Vermonters that I spoke to.
04:48All of us, like Senator Shaheen, visited businesses, talked to real people.
04:53And here's what I'm hearing in Vermont.
04:56Farmers, they're having to pay already 25% more for fertilizer.
05:01By the way, that's not unique to Vermont.
05:02That's all over the country.
05:03Our dairy farmers, small margin.
05:07How do you tell them to pay 25% more?
05:10And on August 1st, by the way, it can go up to 35%.
05:14Our maple producers.
05:17We import a lot of maple syrup from Canada.
05:21We produce the most maple syrup in the United States of any state.
05:25But we cooperate with them, and it's going to create a distortion of the market and put a lot of pressure on our maple producers.
05:34Housing.
05:35As Senator Shaheen said, we get lumber from Canada.
05:39Housing is incredibly expensive.
05:40We all know that.
05:41It's true in your state, and it's true in mine.
05:43And it's one of the big threats to people having an opportunity to move into the middle class.
05:50They can't afford a house.
05:52These tariffs are sticking it to our folks in housing.
05:56And the National Association of Home Builders is absolutely opposed to these tariffs, and rightly so,
06:03because an already expensive house now is going to have a 25% or 35% increase in the cost of lumber.
06:10I mean, where is that coming from?
06:11How is that fair?
06:12How does that make any sense for everyday hardworking people in Vermont and in every state?
06:18We're losing jobs from these.
06:21Steel and car manufacturers are having layoffs.
06:24They're in Michigan.
06:24They're in Indiana.
06:26They're in Alabama.
06:27They're in Minnesota.
06:28In my state, Orvis, which is an iconic producer of elegant and exceptional fly rods,
06:38has had to lay off workers for the first time in a very, very long time,
06:43and it's all totally as a result of these tariffs.
06:48You know, small business, I know we all believe this.
06:50It's the backbone of our state.
06:53And every single one of us on both sides of the aisle, I think, sincerely believes that.
06:59But is it really a belief when we give lip service but not action to protect their opportunity to compete?
07:07And these tariffs are a killer for them.
07:09There's not a small business you can talk to that supports these tariffs
07:15and doesn't see it as an existential threat to their well-being.
07:18You know, the president on these tariffs, particularly with Canada,
07:26we had the United States-Canada-Mexico trade agreement,
07:32and that was negotiated by President Trump.
07:35And he, in his Trumpian way, bragged about that as the best deal ever.
07:41And now he's ripping it up.
07:43So what was it, the best deal ever?
07:45It actually was working.
07:46It gave stability.
07:48We had a market from Mexico up through Canada.
07:53And now that's getting ripped apart with these arbitrary actions on the part of the administration.
08:00So it's all downside here.
08:04And, you know, there's a lot of press recently about the president getting a deal here and a deal there.
08:10And in the short-term news cycle, that's regarded as a victory.
08:16But you know what?
08:18When you step back and look at what the deals are, it's a deal to raise the cost to folks in West Virginia.
08:26It's to raise the cost to folks in Vermont, raise the cost for folks in Oregon, raise the cost for folks in New Hampshire.
08:37So, you know, I ask the obvious question, how is that a good deal?
08:40Maybe it's a good deal politically for the president, but it's a really bad deal for our small businesses and for our consumers.
08:48You know, the other part of this, particularly with Canada, huge tourism industry.
08:53About 20 million Canadians come to the U.S.
08:56About 20 billion dollars.
09:00The folks from Canada, we in Vermont, in New Hampshire, feel very close to them.
09:05We feel a social, economic, political connection to them.
09:10We really value them.
09:12And there's been such an insult to them.
09:15I mean, aside from the tariff, the talk about the 51st state, the governor of Canada, that is all really uncalled for and very hurtful and very harmful.
09:25And Senator Shaheen and Senator Wyden both led delegations to Canada, where I think they were, on behalf of all of us, expressing the appreciation and respect we have for our Canadian neighbors.
09:40And we should not be doing something with these tariffs that shows massive disrespect to them.
09:48I just want to end with a few quotes from the Vermonters I spoke to.
09:55And, by the way, these are Republicans, these are Democrats, they're independents.
09:59This is not a deal that relates to whose side you're on in the presidential contest.
10:04This is folks who are committed to the community they live in, committed to the employees who work for them,
10:10and care about a strong economy and a strong social life for us in Vermont.
10:15Our treasurer said, small local businesses will be hit very hard.
10:22They don't have the ability to find a different supplier and different vendors with the limited flexibility they already have.
10:30We had another, a vegetable farmer, small scale.
10:34It feels like death by a thousand cuts.
10:40Person in health care.
10:42Adding a tariff will either lead to drug shortages in the short term or long term significant price increases.
10:49So, there's a common sense element here that just seems to escape, uh, escape the United States Senate at times.
11:03We're actually pretending that this tariff is not a tax.
11:08It is a tax.
11:11We're pretending that the constant changing and whimsical nature, the arbitrary nature with which the rate is one thing today and a different thing tomorrow,
11:23doesn't have a really disastrous impact on folks who have to make real-world decisions about their ability to produce a product to meet the obligations of a contract they've entered into to maintain the stability of their workforce and their supply chain.
11:45It's all downside with these tariffs.
11:47And these are not targeted.
11:48You know, it's a separate question to use a tariff when you've got unfair labor or trade practices as we have from China.
11:56And I think all of us here are quite open to the proper and limited use of tariff as a tool.
12:03But this notion that tariff is a revenue source and pretending that revenue is not being paid for by our businesses and by our consumers is wrong.
12:13It's just flat-out wrong.
12:14And as this policy gets implemented, we're going to lock in these price increases and further aggravate the affordability challenges that everyday hardworking Americans are feeling more acutely than ever.
12:33Mr. President, I yield back.
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