The ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee grilled U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer Tuesday about the Trump tariffs set to take effect Wednesday, calling the situation they've caused for average Americans, "pretty rotten stuff."
"I saw at page four of your testimony, Mr. Greer, you said the president's strategy is already bearing fruit," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) began. " I can tell you, for a lot of Oregonians who have 401Ks that are being drained out, that's pretty rotten stuff, and you ought to realize how serious this is for the country."
Wyden continued, "Now, everybody in the administration practically has a different story about the Trump tax hike. So, I'm interested in knowing what the story is today. Will higher tariffs go into effect tomorrow as announced?"
"The president's fixed in his purpose," Greer said. "The nature of the emergency...is not something we can wait on anymore. So, we will have the president's plan go into effect."
Last week, President Donald Trump declared that "foreign trade and economic practices have created a national emergency," as he announced the sweeping tariffs against U.S. trade partners.
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Greer said that "about 50" nations that are facing tariffs have approached the U.S. for negotiations.
Wyden asked what the status was with China, after Chinese officials responded to Trump's additional 50% tariffs on that nation, stating, "If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will fight to the end."
"I don't see much progress," Wyden said. "What I see is, it looks like it's going to escalate and escalate some more and hurt our consumers and our small businesses and our part of the world."
Greer responded, "Unfortunately, China, for many years, seems to be choosing its own path on market access. Again, they have agency in this. They elected to announce retaliation; other countries did not. Other countries signaled that they'd like to find a path forward on reciprocity. China has not said that, and we will see where that goes."
He continued, "I think we need to work with our closest friends to make sure that we have trading arrangements that work. And if the Chinese are open, you know, we'll see what — but they haven't signaled that at all. So, I don't think that's in the very near term with China."
"I just am concerned that there is no strategy at all!" Wyden exclaimed.