Warren ‘concerned’ Trump ‘stumbling into a trade war’ with China tariffs
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) expressed concern that President Trump is “stumbling into a trade war” by imposing additional tariffs on China and accused him of holding up “critical” bipartisan investments.
“Tariffs are a tool to help strategically grow American industry. I’m concerned that President Trump is stumbling into a trade war that isn’t designed to protect American jobs or industry while giving corporations cover to raise prices on working families,” Warren said in a Tuesday statement.
Trump signed sweeping tariffs against the U.S.’s top three trading partners — China, Mexico and Canada — on Saturday. Those levied against Canada and Mexico were 25 percent. Ones against China were set at 10 percent. The president said Mexico and Canada need to provide greater enforcement at their borders and help curb the flow of illegal drugs coming across.
After speaking with leaders of Mexico and Canada, Trump called off the enforcement of tariffs for 30 days. Those against Beijing went into effect just after midnight on Tuesday.
China retaliated Tuesday, slapping a 15 percent tariff on liquefied natural gas and coal. Another 10 percent was added to agricultural machinery, pickup trucks and crude oil. The country is also set to implement export controls on tellurium, bismuth, tungsten, indium and molybdenum, all important elements.
The country’s Administration for Market Regulation said it will kick off an antitrust investigation into Google, though the company’s search engine does not operate there.
Warren said Trump is also stalling tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act that, she says, “would eliminate China’s leverage over our critical mineral supply chains.”
“On top of that, the President is holding up critical bipartisan investments to shore up our energy security and is attempting to gut the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits that would eliminate China’s leverage over our critical mineral supply chains,” Warren said. “Beijing understands that and is exploiting our weakness.”
The Massachusetts senator, who at times looked to find common ground with some of Trump’s allies, also stated the president has not fortified the U.S. export controls with Beijing.
“In addition, the President hasn’t strengthened our export controls with China, despite having concrete bipartisan ideas, like those Senator Hawley and I have proposed,” she said in a statement. “President Trump is focused on bluster and photo ops while China is focused on winning. Congress will conduct rigorous oversight of how the President uses tariffs as a tool, and we — and the American people — will hold him accountable.”
Republican senators have largely been supportive of Trump’s tariffs.
“We’ve got a president that wants to put America first and protect people,” Schmitt said. “We have 100,000 people a year … dying from fentanyl,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said on Sunday. “He ran on this. This is not a surprise. He talked about getting operational control of our border. He talked about tariffs and improving our standing in the world. He’s doing all those things.”
But a few within the upper chamber’s GOP conference publicly disagreed, stating tariffs will drive the prices of consumer goods up.
“It will drive the cost of everything up. In other words, it will be paid for by American consumers. I mean, why would you want to get into a fight with your allies over this,” former Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
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