[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1133-H1136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TARIFFS HURT EVERYONE

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Foster 
of Illinois was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material for the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I will first thank my colleagues on the 
Democratic Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group for 
helping us with these various Special Order hours discussing the Trump 
administration's various reckless actions.
  Tonight, I rise to bring attention to an issue that really should 
have all Americans on alert, which are President Trump's tariff 
policies.
  Since the beginning of this administration, American businesses, 
manufacturers, and families have been stuck in limbo as the Trump 
administration has repeatedly threatened, then implemented, then 
paused, then restarted tariffs, creating uncertainty and instability.
  The most recent policy shift to a 25 percent tariff on goods from 
Canada and Mexico has been fraught with delays and exemptions, leaving 
American businesses, manufacturers, and consumers just stuck in limbo, 
not knowing how to react and how to make their plans.
  In fact, just this morning, Trump doubled planned tariffs on steel 
and aluminum from Canada to 50 percent. Then, a mere couple hours ago, 
a spokesman from the White House said that the tariffs on Canada were 
back down to 25 percent. Who knows?
  In true Trump administration fashion, this is complete and utter 
chaos. Yet, the truth is that these tariffs, no matter if and when they 
go into full effect, whether it is this week or next month, they will 
all ultimately have the same result: higher prices for everyday goods 
and a less competitive U.S. manufacturing sector.
  In fact, a business in my district, which makes precision-form steel 
tubing components, told me that the price of hot rolled steel is up 33 
percent since Trump's inauguration in anticipation of these tariffs, 
and there is just no way that they are going to be able to avoid 
passing these inflationary price increases on to their customers.
  According to an analysis from the Yale Budget Lab, if implemented 
fully, these tariffs would cost the average American family between 
$1,600 and $2,000 a year, with working-class families, who can least 
afford it, being hit the hardest.
  Prices would spike across the board. Electronics, like computers, 
phones, and TVs, could rise by 11 percent; clothing, up by 7.5 percent; 
cars and auto parts, up by 6 percent; groceries, up 2 percent with 
fresh produce rising nearly 3 percent. Oil and other energy costs will 
rise over 1.6 percent, making it more expensive for families to fill up 
their gas tanks and heat their homes.
  Mr. Speaker, Trump is trying to spin these tariffs as something that 
is solely attacks on foreign companies, but history and macroeconomic 
facts tell us otherwise. When Trump first imposed tariffs during his 
first administration, it was not other countries that paid, but it was 
American consumers and businesses.
  Importers passed these cost increases on to their consumers, and 
domestic producers hiked their own prices in response. This made U.S. 
manufacturers less competitive worldwide. In fact, in the 
last administration, Trump's policies put us into a manufacturing 
recession well before COVID hit.

  Beyond hurting hardworking American families, these tariffs 
threatened the stability of our economy. Analysts from across the 
political spectrum warned that they could slash 2.3 percent from GDP by 
2026, wiping out a lot of projected growth.
  Markets also reacted with great uncertainty, as they should. The 
stocks have dropped, and consumer confidence is cratering.
  For American farmers, many of whom are already facing mounting 
economic challenges, the situation is even more dire. The costs of 
critical supplies, such as fertilizer, fuel, and equipment, will 
skyrocket, making it harder for farmers to maintain their operations.
  Mr. Speaker, I was just at an event earlier today with corn farmers 
from the Midwest. For example, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, 
Canada supplies over 80 percent of our potash imports, which are an 
essential component for agricultural fertilizer. Guess who the next 
leading producers are after Canada? Russia, China, and Belarus.
  Wouldn't it be better if we could import from our friends in Canada 
instead of Russia, China, and Belarus, or does our President feel 
differently?

                              {time}  1900

  In any case, with increased costs, farmers will be forced to either 
raise prices or absorb the losses, neither of which is sustainable in 
the long run.
  Besides rising costs, farmers are already facing devastating losses 
in international markets. China, the largest export market for U.S. 
food products, has already announced retaliatory tariffs on key 
American agricultural goods, including wheat, corn, soybeans, pork, and 
dairy products.

[[Page H1134]]

  Mexico, our largest corn export market, knows what they are going to 
do because they did it last time. When Trump did various things to 
insult the people of Mexico and assault their economy, they simply 
stopped buying corn from the United States and began buying it from 
Brazil.
  Brazil, by the way, gets two crops a year, which, when you tell that 
to corn farmers in the Midwest, they react. We are in danger of losing 
these markets permanently if Trump continues what he did in his last 
go-around on tariffs.
  According to the USDA, in fact, the last time President Trump engaged 
in a trade war, it cost U.S. farmers nearly $30 billion in lost sales 
and market disruptions. In an effort to keep the farmers' heads above 
water, $30 billion of taxpayer money was sent their way.
  That is not what farmers want. For decades, American farmers have 
worked tirelessly to expand access to foreign markets, ensuring their 
products reach consumers around the world.
  These new tariffs will undo years of progress in expanding those 
markets, closing off opportunities and shrinking demand for American-
grown goods in a foreign market, something which domestic consumption 
alone cannot compensate for.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, long before coming to Congress and long before 
my career as a scientist, I started a manufacturing company with my 
brother. Starting with $500 from our parents, we built a company that 
now manufactures over half of all the theater lighting equipment in the 
United States. It provides over 1,300 manufacturing jobs in the 
Midwest.
  We do hardware, software, painting, wiring harnesses, customer 
support, everything, and I am very proud that we have kept those good 
manufacturing jobs in the United States.
  That is why boosting the U.S. manufacturing and creating 
manufacturing jobs here has always been a top priority of mine and why 
I was so horrified at the damage done to U.S. manufacturing by the last 
set of Trump tariffs.
  I watched with deep concern as the first Trump administration's 
tariffs and our other trade policies put us in a manufacturing 
recession a year before COVID even started.
  Once again, Trump is pursuing a failed economic policy that is going 
to do nothing to bring jobs back, but instead it will drive up costs, 
kill growth, and undermine U.S. manufacturing, the very sector that he 
claims to protect.
  Manufacturers will be hit with soaring costs. Many U.S. manufacturers 
rely on imported raw materials, such as steel, aluminum, and auto parts 
from Canada and Mexico. These tariffs will increase costs across the 
supply chains, making it harder to produce goods economically and much 
harder for U.S. manufacturers to export their goods in a competitive 
world environment.
  Contrary to what Trump and the Republicans are trying to say, higher 
costs mean fewer jobs. When manufacturers face rising production 
expenses, they are forced to either pass those costs on to consumers, 
further driving up inflation, or cut jobs and production. Studies have 
shown that Trump's previous tariffs led to job losses, not gains, in 
the manufacturing sector.
  American manufacturers will, once again, struggle to compete 
globally. By making essential inputs more expensive, Trump is weakening 
U.S. manufacturers against foreign competitors who are not burdened 
with these artificial price hikes.
  Not to mention, manufacturers will likely be hit by retaliatory 
tariffs when trying to export their goods to the countries that 
President Trump has targeted.
  This is not America First; this is America last in the global 
economy.
  The last trade war was a disaster. Under Trump's first round of 
tariffs, manufacturers suffered as input prices soared, supply chains 
were disrupted, and retaliatory tariffs from other nations crushed U.S. 
exports.
  This time the consequences could be even worse.
  The truth is, there are no winners in trade wars, only those left to 
bear the burden of higher costs, lost jobs, and economic instability.
  Instead of strengthening our economy, Trump and his Republican allies 
are needlessly putting it at risk, gambling with the livelihoods of 
American families.
  When the U.S. is threatened with a recession, you don't have to take 
my word for it, you can read the front page of The Wall Street Journal. 
It will be those policies who are to blame.
  Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be joined by my colleague, Congresswoman 
Melanie Stansbury. As a Representative of the southern border State, 
New Mexico, she knows all too well, the importance of fair trade with 
Mexico for our Nation's economy and especially for working families' 
wallets.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. 
Stansbury).
  Real-world Impacts on Communities of Actions Taken by Elon Musk and 
Donald Trump
  Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for convening this 
Special Order hour.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the real-world impacts of 
what is happening right now in our Federal Government. With the 
dismantling of Federal agencies, the free fall of our economy, and the 
impacts that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are having on our communities, 
what is happening right now is not normal. It is impacting our 
communities in ways that many do not even understand.

  Right now, real people are hurting. They are scared. They don't know 
what is going to happen. Today, in my office, I met with members of a 
Tribal council and leaders from a Tribe in New Mexico who came to visit 
me.
  Like others, they shared stories about the people in the community 
who are frightened about what is happening. Teachers and educators and 
Tribal schools who have been fired without any explanation, critical 
Federal funds that are on hold. When they went to meet with the 
Department of the Interior today, they were told that even those who 
are in charge of the very programs that they were meeting them about 
didn't know what was happening.
  Back home people are frightened. They are scared. They don't know if 
they are going to lose their Social Security, their Medicaid, or the 
access to lifesaving care.
  A few days ago, I met with the largest food bank in the State of New 
Mexico. They distribute food to hundreds of food pantries, churches, 
homeless shelters, and individual families across the State. They told 
me that if the cuts to food assistance go through that Republicans are 
proposing in their budget framework, that the number of families, and 
especially our children and seniors who are currently facing food 
insecurity, will double.
  There is not enough support, resources, and infrastructure in the 
State of New Mexico to meet the need if these programs are cut. Our 
food system will do everything that it can to support our communities, 
but it will be more severe than even during the pandemic.
  Every day I am hearing from constituents in my district who have lost 
their jobs. These are real people, real New Mexicans. Thousands of 
Americans are being fired every single day by this administration for 
no reason. These are not faceless people, but real members of our 
communities.
  A Tribal schoolteacher was told in the middle of the school day that 
she was being fired for no reason, after she had taught for years, to 
pack up her things and return home in front of her students. These are 
students who don't know if they are going to be able to finish the 
school year and graduate. There were no answers. There was no 
explanation. There was no follow up for how she is going to support her 
son and her disabled mother at home.
  A veteran, who was on medical leave, returned to their job at the VA 
on a Monday only to find out that they had been locked out of their 
email, and inside that email was a nameless, faceless dismissal, 
letting them know that they had been fired for no reason. A dedicated 
public servant who drove 60 miles to work every single day to the VA 
hospital to serve their fellow veterans was never even notified as to 
the reason they were terminated. It was just a mass email sent to 
thousands of Federal employees across the United States.
  Just like the other veterans across my district who lost their jobs 
over the last several days, another veteran who

[[Page H1135]]

served in the Army Reserves from 2001 to 2010 also received that same 
nameless, faceless email from Elon Musk. A veteran, who received an 
Army Achievement Medal, a Combat Action Badge, and other medals and 
achievements over the course of their service, was fired with 
devastating impacts to their family not only financially but 
emotionally.
  These are the real people being impacted by this administration, an 
administration that seems to have no regard whatsoever for the 
thousands of Americans who are literally losing their livelihoods every 
day as a result.
  While they take on these actions, while they dismantle these Federal 
agencies, while they withhold the funds that literally thousands of 
organizations across the country depend upon to provide vital services 
across our communities, while they fire these thousands of Federal 
public servants who have dedicated their life to service, including our 
veterans and members of the military, they are giving themselves 
contracts to replace the very programs and create new services that 
will give them more wealth like Elon Musk at the FAA.
  They are talking about monetizing HUD programs. That is right. 
Voucher programs that our lowest income family members and members of 
our communities depend on, they want to turn it into a monetary program 
that makes private companies money. They want to turn over mortgage 
markets to their crypto buddies. Well, that sounds like a good idea, 
right?
  They are doing all of this against the backdrop of trade wars that 
are not only endangering the American economy, but endangering the 
lives of millions of Americans and making it more expensive.
  Now the thing I ask myself is: What is the end goal of all of this? 
Seriously, what is the end goal?
  Donald Trump campaigned for the last 2 years on lowering costs. He 
told the American people: If you elect me, I will make it cheaper and 
easier to live in America. I ask my fellow Americans, is it cheaper 
than it was 6 weeks ago in America? If you have been grocery shopping 
over the last several weeks, you are seeing that prices are higher than 
they have ever been.
  We are not just talking about the price of eggs and meat. It is 
everything: the price of housing, the price of groceries, the price of 
energy. Not only have prices not gone down, they have gone up, and now 
because of these tariffs and trade wars, we know that everything is 
going to get exponentially more expensive.
  The raw materials that fuel American manufacturing and construction 
will get more expensive. Produce and food will get more expensive. 
Energy will get more expensive.
  What are they doing? Why are they doing this? Why are my colleagues 
enabling this administration to harm the American people, enabling this 
administration to put harmful policies in place that are making it not 
only more expensive for Americans but tanking our economy? What is this 
all about? To what end?
  I ask my colleagues honestly, Mr. Speaker, to what end is all of 
this? What is the point of hurting real Americans?
  These policies are not making life better for real Americans. It is 
really about stealing from the working people of this country to make 
the wealthier more wealthy.

                              {time}  1915

  Mr. Speaker, if you need any more evidence of that, then all you have 
to do is look at the budget framework that they passed here in this 
Chamber 2 weeks ago.
  A couple of weeks ago, when they passed this budget, they pretended 
like we are just trying to root out waste, fraud, and abuse and that we 
are going to take those savings and reinvest it into tax breaks to help 
the American people. As the last couple of weeks have passed, they are 
not even trying to hide it anymore.
  Over the weekend, Republicans were on a blitz across the news media, 
saying that they were going to gut Medicaid. They are talking about it 
openly now. They are going to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from 
the basic programs that sustain Americans. Over the weekend, Elon Musk 
talked openly about gutting Social Security. This is their plan.
  What are they going to do with all of that ``savings''? They are 
going to use it to give permanent tax breaks to billionaires. That is 
it. That is what all of this is in service of: taking from the people 
who have spent their lives serving this country, proudly serving this 
Nation, proudly working to put food on the table and a roof over their 
head for their families, and they are going to give that money to 
billionaires. That is what this is all about. It hurts my heart.
  My colleagues passed their budget resolution, their budget CR, this 
afternoon, and the vast majority of them are on planes back to their 
districts, where they are not going to hold townhalls. Their leadership 
told them not to because they don't want to hear from the people who 
are unhappy and being hurt by this harm to our communities.
  I have to ask my colleagues: Why are they even here? What is this all 
in service of? Go home and represent the people, and come back here and 
have a backbone to stand up for the Constitution and the people of this 
country because real people are being hurt.
  Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Stansbury for 
speaking today and for sharing how some of Trump's policies are going 
to harm her constituents.
  In her State and near her district are national security workers, 
atomic scientists at Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs, who were 
fired and then unfired and are still being threatened with being fired.
  I am a scientist. I know a lot of people who are in that situation. 
Damage is done to our national security when you tell people who are 
working at a national lab, especially a national security lab, that it 
is not a safe place in terms of being able to depend on an income to 
raise their families. That does damage to our national security that 
can never be undone.
  It is not a small deal, and the fact that some 23-year-old kid with a 
software background has decided they know more about the workforce that 
we need to make sure our nuclear weapons are safe and effective is 
about as bad government as you can ever imagine.
  I would also like to echo Ms. Stansbury's questions about why does 
Trump do this. Why does he actually do this? The President's reputation 
as a great businessman is based on making a series of one-off deals. He 
is a real estate dealmaker, not a manufacturer, not a businessman who 
has real customers.
  He thinks he has done a good deal when he uses all the leverage in 
his negotiation to make sure that he has really rooked his counterpart, 
his customer, to the extent possible in his real estate transactions.
  I am very different. I am a manufacturer. The last thing you want if 
you are a manufacturer is a dissatisfied customer. It is a completely 
different mindset.
  The problem occurs when Donald Trump views our allies as people to be 
rooked, people to be insulted, people to use, to leverage to get the 
most out of the current situation with them instead of trying to 
develop the long-term business relationship that is really the basis of 
the long-term economic security of our country.
  That is my best understanding of why the President does these things 
because he certainly has his advisers that let him know that his 
policies are going to have disastrous economic effects.
  In fact, just a couple of nights ago, in an interview, President 
Trump declined to rule out the possibility of a recession, which I 
imagine his competent advisers have been shouting in his ear for weeks 
now.
  As I said earlier, there are no winners in a trade war. There are 
only those who are left to bear the burden of higher costs, lost jobs, 
and economic instability.
  Instead of strengthening our economy, Trump and his Republican allies 
are needlessly putting it at risk, gambling with the livelihoods of 
American families. If the U.S. indeed enters a recession, we will know 
who to blame.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H1136]]

  

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