Wyden's Statement at the Senate Finance Committee's Hearing on Trump's Trade Agenda

[00:00:00]Thank you very much uh Mr. Chairman. And I'm Pastor Greer, glad to have a chance to talk about these crucial issues this morning.

[00:00:07]The Trump trade agenda is dominated by big promises. First, he promised lower costs.

[00:00:14]Second, he promised to be tough on China.

[00:00:18]Third, he promised to open up new markets for American farmers and small businesses.

[00:00:23]These promises haven't panned out. About a year and a half into the Trump second term, farmers are on the ropes. I was just home for six open to all town hall meetings in rural Oregon.

[00:00:37]In communities where Donald Trump got more than 70% of the vote, and I can tell you the wheat farmers in Eastern Oregon told me they are barely hanging on to family farms. They're getting hammered by high prices for key inputs, inputs like fuel and equipment.

[00:00:54]The small businesses, like a local toy shop in Portland, are closing their doors after tariffs high tariffs made their businesses impossible. Uncertainty is costing workers jobs, including at Portland at Portland Coffee Roasters.

[00:01:09]Supply chains have been disrupted. Small businesses are delaying investments in new employees and manufacturing.

[00:01:17]Like so many other promises Donald Trump has made to working people, the set the second he set foot in the White House, he did nothing to put American businesses and workers first.

[00:01:29]What he did is he embarked on a tariff spree that put the cost of living crisis on steroids in America.

[00:01:38]The Supreme Court eventually overturned the Trump global tariffs, but the higher costs are here to stay.

[00:01:44]In 2025, the Trump tariffs cost the average American family $1,700 with grocery and gas prices way up.

[00:01:52]This week Donald Trump announced massive new tariffs on clothes and school supplies and other products from Canada using a provision based in the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.

[00:02:07]Americans ought to know that nobody, not even Herbert Hoover, used this provision before, but Donald Trump dug up a zombie law to make things even more expensive for Americans.

[00:02:22]Trump's next trade scheme is ordering USTR to reconstruct his illegal global tariffs under the guise of addressing forced labor.

[00:02:31]As I've recently said, if the administration wants to get serious about forced labor, the first step is to look at its own enforcement record.

[00:02:39]Donald Trump has failed to enforce the laws that we've got in the books, and it's cut cut government efforts dedicated to fighting forced labor around the world.

[00:02:48]Ambassador Lighthizer, at our hearing last year, you told us that nearly 50 countries had approached you, and those countries were clamoring for trade deals.

[00:02:59]Instead of agreements, what I've seen is we have press releases and announcements about supposed deals that haven't been approved by Congress, haven't been enforced, haven't opened markets, and haven't reduced tariffs.

[00:03:13]My own take on these uh proposals is there is no there there.

[00:03:18]The one piece of the Trump administration trade agenda that does seem to be progressing is the corrupt enrichment of so many in the Trump uh orbit, his family, his allies, and himself. Donald Trump lowered tariffs on Switzerland after Swiss billionaires gifted Trump a gold bar worth more than $100,000.

[00:03:39]A Korean company under investigation for trade cheating paid the Trump holding company $2 million, and the administration waived export restrictions on the UAE after an Emirati company invested million in the Trump cryptocurrency agenda.

[00:03:57]I could go on. We've got a busy morning.

[00:03:59]The bottom line is American families are paying more in tariffs so Donald Trump and his cronies can profit.

[00:04:08]My own take is the way to stop this corruption and chaos is to take unfettered tariff power away from the president. It's well past time to put Congress back in the driver's seat on trade. That's why today I'm able to introduce the Congressional Trade Powers Reform Act. It overhauls existing trade powers to ensure that no future presidential administration can abuse its authority on trade and thrust the country into a cost of living crisis. It would require congressional approval of any tariff proposed by the president.

[00:04:45]And it would establish an advisory committee to ensure that Congress actually is in a position to exercise its rightful oversight over tariffs and trade. It is time to restore consistency, reliability, and success in our country's trade agenda.

[00:05:00]That's what my bill is all about and I look forward to talking to colleagues on both sides of the aisle on that. I look forward to today's question and answer, Ambassador. We're glad you're here as I've said, and please proceed.