00:06I appreciate the opportunity to talk about two subjects very different in nature.
00:11I want to start with the deadline and I believe tomorrow's imposition of a 50% tariff on Brazil imports.
00:20I really appreciate what the administration's doing trying to get other countries on notice
00:27that we are tired of unfair balance of trade.
00:31We've probably allowed it to go on for too long.
00:33So some of the chaos that some people may think the administration's creating with these tariffs
00:40is absolutely necessary to stop the chaos of the United States being unfairly positioned with trade partners.
00:47And so on that side of the ledger, I support what the administration's doing.
00:53But as somebody who advised businesses on capital expenditures, on corporate relocations, on manufacturing facilities,
01:03those sorts of things in my prior career, I'm worried about how this 50% tariff on Brazil,
01:10a country that we have a trade surplus with, undermines our credibility as we're trying to negotiate these other tariffs.
01:17Because I met with some members, members of the Brazilian Senate, earlier this week in my office.
01:26And I actually had a number of them there.
01:29It was opposition and governing party in my office.
01:32The President has threatened a tariff on Brazil because he's not satisfied with the outcome of a judicial proceeding related to a prior leader in Brazil.
01:44I had someone who described themselves as a friend of this man, who said,
01:50I am a friend of this person, and we are working to try and get that judicial outcome reversed.
01:55But we don't understand how a judicial decision of a sovereign nation would end up resulting in a tariff for a country that has a trade surplus with the United States.
02:07And I agree. And I think it really puts Brazil in an untenable situation.
02:13To avoid the tariff, they would have to disrespect their rule of law.
02:17And they would have to overturn arbitrarily something that has gone through their courts.
02:22Whether or not their courts live up to the standard of the United States, I don't know.
02:26I guess you could argue it one way or the other.
02:28But at the end of the day, they're a sovereign nation, and we have a positive balance of trade with them.
02:35And we're asking them to reverse a court decision or encounter a 50% tariff.
02:42Bless you.
02:43A 50% tariff on goods coming into this country.
02:49Well, think coffee.
02:51Think inputs for manufacturing.
02:53Think any number of products that you buy, apparel that says made in Brazil.
02:57Having a 50% tariff applied to it because our President of the United States doesn't like the outcome of a court system in a sovereign nation.
03:06So I would encourage the President to do like that Senate member in my office, who's a member of the opposition, the minority party,
03:14who says he is a friend of mine.
03:16We are working through our court system, but allow us to do that.
03:19Please don't do the economic damage to a nearly 200-year-old relationship with the sovereign nation.
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