[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 9, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2502-S2504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Tariffs

  Mr. President, it was a relief, I think, to all of us that the 
President announced that he was going to pause for 90 days these 
tariffs that have caused so much turmoil and havoc. It is only a pause, 
and it also continues tariffs with Canada and Mexico that continue to 
create enormous havoc for us in Vermont and, I think, for many States 
in the country as 34 of our States have as their major trading partner 
the country of Canada.
  There is enormous back-and-forth in the car industry, as the 
Presiding Officer knows better than anyone that these tariffs are very 
detrimental to. What we saw in Vermont--in talking to our businesses, 
in talking to our farmers, in talking to folks who have utility bills 
at the end of every month and whose electricity comes from Canada, and 
in talking with folks who in the northern part of the State get their 
gasoline from Canada shipped down to Vermont to gas stations where they 
go to get it, and our home heating fuel and the disruption and the 
threat to businesses and the erosion of trust that had been built up 
for decades--centuries--between Vermont neighbors and Canadian 
neighbors--was unfathomable.
  I am relieved that the President has paused the tariffs, but I am 
appalled at the manner in which the President and his economic advisers 
are proceeding without any coherent rhyme or reason or justification 
for these tariffs on Canada that hurt us so much.
  I am going to urge that the administration back off on tariffs that 
serve no useful purpose but absolutely and directly and immediately are 
going to do so much harm to Vermont farmers, to Vermont manufacturers, 
and to Vermont utility customers.
  We are struggling in Vermont--folks who work really hard to pay their 
bills--and the idea that, by Executive action, we would increase the 
costs of so many families and businesses is totally unjustified. My 
hope is that all of us here whose constituents face the same 
repercussions of these reckless tariffs will speak out on their behalf 
so that folks and businesses can have some security at the end of the 
month and are not going to have a big spike in their expenses.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, Donald Trump is trashing our economy.
  First, Donald Trump imposed across-the-board tariffs. Then, just a 
few hours ago, he dropped those tariffs to 10 percent on everyone and 
moved the tariffs up to 125 percent on China, up from 105 percent 
yesterday. Now there is confusion. There is chaos. No one knows what 
the tariffs will be tomorrow or the next day or next week or next 
month.
  But here is what we do know: Are prices still going up? Yes. Are 
businesses still wary about investing? Yes. Are millions of working 
people still worried about their jobs and millions of small businesses 
still worried about closing shop? Yes.
  Right before Donald Trump declared that some of his tariffs were off 
again, he sent out a message to his billionaire buddies. He posted 
``THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!'' Was that market manipulation? Was it 
corruption in plain sight? We need an independent investigation into 
market manipulation because Americans need to know whether President 
Trump or anyone in his administration manipulated the market to benefit 
their donors all while they are working for the American people and 
while small businesses and those working families are paying the price.
  It is a disaster, but here is the thing: Republicans in Congress have 
a chance to stop him right now. If they do nothing, they, along with 
Trump, are responsible for the fallout. Congress could end this 
dangerous trade war right now by passing my bipartisan resolution with 
Senator Ron Wyden to turn off the fake emergency authority that Donald 
Trump is using to impose his worldwide and chaotic tariffs.
  So I have a simple question for the Senate: Why aren't we passing 
this resolution this instant?
  Let's take a step back and talk about what has happened since Trump 
imposed his illegal, across-the-board tariffs 1 week ago today. 
Americans' retirement accounts took a hit. Businesses started hiking 
prices, and many are preparing for layoffs. Consumer confidence hit its 
lowest point in years as millions of Americans wonder will they have a 
job in 3 months' time. Economists have said that if we continue down 
this path of uncertainty, recession is inevitable.
  We have actually seen this before--in 2008 during the mortgage 
meltdown and in 2020, as we were hit by a once-in-a-century virus. But 
this time, there is no mortgage meltdown; there is no virus. No, the 
crisis is entirely the fault of one person: Donald Trump.
  This might be the first time in history that the actions of a single 
man have destroyed so much economic value around the planet. If we do 
not reverse course, this catastrophic mistake will seriously hurt 
people, seriously hurt small businesses, and seriously hurt the United 
States' position in the world.
  We all know what is happening. It isn't possible to turn on a 
television or check your news feed without seeing it. Every single 
elected Republican in Congress knows what these tariffs would mean for 
people--from farmers who are pleading for help as they brace for the 
trade war, to seniors who are on the verge of retiring and now having 
to scramble to figure out how they can work longer, to workers who 
don't know how many more paychecks they will get before being laid off.
  I know there are people who say tariffs are always a bad idea. I 
don't agree. I have long argued that smart tariff

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policy can be an important tool to help grow domestic industries, an 
important tool to help support good jobs, and an important tool to 
promote the development of critical supply chains here at home.
  For three decades, politicians from both parties have worked together 
to cut bad trade deals--trade deals that sold out American workers and 
promoted offshoring. Entire communities across this country were 
hallowed out, and American families across this country were left in 
the wreckage.
  We owe it to these communities, we owe it to these families to forge 
a new path forward on trade, one that invests in American workers and 
American industry. We owe it to these communities to integrate tariffs 
with other economic tools to encourage domestic production and good 
jobs right here in the United States of America. But everyone knows 
that the kinds of tariffs that Donald Trump is putting in place will 
not do that. They aren't strategic; they are just plain dumb.
  It is widely reported that the math behind this brilliant tariff 
scheme looks exactly like it came from someone typing a bunch of basic 
questions into ChatGPT and using the resulting bogus numbers to slap 
tariffs on essentially every country in the world, including a group of 
islands whose only inhabitants are penguins. Plagiarizing an AI 
chatbot's idea of a rational tariff policy and using it then to blow up 
the world economy would make a very funny movie--if real people's 
livelihoods weren't at stake.
  Trump's on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again 
tariffs are not encouraging businesses to develop plants in the United 
States. Instead, they have the opposite effect--they scare off 
investors.
  Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs won't bring back 
manufacturing jobs. Instead, companies are cutting manufacturing jobs, 
and factory productivity is declining across the country. These tariffs 
are job killers no matter the sector.
  As much as Trump loves taking credit for investments that were 
announced before he took office, the reality is, layoffs are now at the 
highest they have been since the start of the pandemic and first-
quarter hiring plans are at a decade-plus low.
  Let me say that again. The tariffs are scaring off investors. They 
are not bringing back manufacturing jobs, and layoffs are on the rise.
  That is a lot of bad news all at once, and believe it or not, there 
is more bad news. Donald Trump's tariffs will also be used as an excuse 
by companies to jack up prices and rip off American families.
  The Chairman of the Federal Reserve said that Trump's tariffs will 
mean higher prices. Then he gave an example from the first term of the 
Trump administration when tariffs on washing machines led to companies 
hiking prices on washing machines. OK. We understand that, but the 
damage didn't stop there. Those companies also hiked prices on dryers 
even though there were no tariffs on dryers. Why? Because they knew 
American consumers would just assume those prices also went up because 
of tariffs.
  Now imagine what companies can get away with when the President is 
loudly yelling about putting 10 percent tariffs on everyone, 
everywhere, everything, all at once, and threatening to do more and at 
rates that make no sense, and he could change again at any moment. It 
is not just a killer for honest businesses; it is also going to be a 
field day for companies that want to juice their profits with just a 
little price gouging.
  CEOs are already talking about it. Here are some quotes:

       We have planned to raise prices to offset.

  Another:

       We will pass through that price.

  Can they be any clearer? They are already telling us that they don't 
just pass along cost increases that they face; they are saying they 
will use tariffs to push prices higher and higher.
  Right now, every economic indicator is flashing red. Every community 
around the country is ringing the alarm bell. People understand that if 
we do not put an end to this chaos once and for all, we are headed for 
an economic disaster.
  As it turns out, even Senators are raising the alarm.
  Senator John Kennedy said:

       Tariffs are like whiskey: A little whiskey, under the right 
     circumstances, can be refreshing--but too much whiskey, under 
     the wrong circumstances, can make you drunk as a goat.

  Go, John.
  Senator Thom Tillis said:

       Anyone who says there may be a little bit of pain before we 
     get things right needs to talk to my farmers who are one crop 
     away from bankruptcy.

  Senator Ted Cruz said he was not ``a fan of jacking up taxes on 
American consumers.''
  Yes, no surprises here. These Republicans all know what is happening. 
They just refuse to do anything about it. They sit on their hands while 
millions of Americans across the country are sitting at home wondering 
when Republicans in Congress are going to step up and do something.
  A few Senators have commented, but so far, we have seen no action--
none--from Republican leadership. Republican Senate leadership knows 
how bad the tariff situation is, but it is just the same old cowering 
before Donald Trump.
  Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson could hold 
a vote immediately to shut off these tariffs and end the chaos. They 
could stand up to Trump and stand up for their constituents. They could 
demonstrate to the world that Congress has a role to play and can put 
some curbs on President Trump's tariffs by whim. But apparently 
Majority Leader Thune is in no hurry. He said earlier this week that he 
would just wait to see what is happening.
  Senator Mike Johnson has said:

       We are going to give [Trump] the space necessary to do it 
     and we'll see how it all develops . . . it's only been a 
     week.

  Yes, it has only been a week. And in that week, capital markets 
around the world have lost trillions of dollars in value, working 
people and seniors have seen their savings decimated, people have 
already started getting pink slips, prices are already going up. And 
Thune and Johnson's own constituents are urging their Representatives 
and their Senators to fight back, but so far, they do nothing.
  Farmers like Rodney Koch, who grows soybeans in Garretson, SD, are 
worried that tariffs ``will hurt our pocketbooks.'' Can Leader Thune 
explain to farmers in his home State why he is sitting on his hands 
while Republicans put their livelihoods at risk?
  Business owners in Louisiana say they are bracing ``for price hikes 
from Trump tariffs.'' Can Speaker Johnson explain to his constituents 
back home why he is sitting on his hands as their costs go through the 
roof?
  Republican leadership knows how bad this is, but they do nothing. 
Normally, that would be it. There is nothing that the minority party, 
the Democrats, could do about it. But with Senator Wyden's and my 
bipartisan resolution, Republicans cannot stop us. We can force a vote 
on the tariff question. Republicans cannot stop us from forcing a vote, 
but they can delay us, and that is what they are doing. Instead of 
passing a bill to save our economy, instead of reassuring both 
Americans and people around the world that there are some limits on 
what Donald Trump can do in terms of jerking tariffs up and down and 
sideways and on and off--instead of doing that, the Senate is about to 
vote to put a career Wall Street suit in charge of the SEC. But it is 
not just any Wall Streeter. This is a corporate guy, Paul Atkins, who 
actually has a track record on financial crashes.
  The Republican nominee for Chairman of the SEC was a member of the 
SEC during the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. His track 
record in the runup to the crash was impeccable: Mr. Atkins sat on his 
hands--no acknowledgement that the crash was coming, no steps to avoid 
the crash, no push to help out families or small businesses once the 
crash hit. Instead, Mr. Atkins took votes while he was on the SEC that 
directly contributed to the crash.
  Even today, despite all of the evidence about how loose regulations 
triggered a crisis that cost 10 million families their homes and put 
millions more out of work, Mr. Atkins has 20/0 hindsight about his 
mistakes. Apparently, he thinks that the only thing we did wrong in the 
runup to the 2008 crash was not to remove more rules from the giant 
banks so they could have loaded up even faster on more risk, taken

[[Page S2504]]

more profits, and then needed a bigger bailout.
  Once he left government, Mr. Atkins moved to a long career helping 
billionaire scammers like Sam Bankman-Fried get even richer.
  Getting Mr. Atkins confirmed instead of stopping the economic chaos--
this is the priority for Republicans in Congress right now. Put another 
fox in charge of the henhouse while the whole farm could burn to the 
ground.
  So that is the Republican plan: Ignore the economic chaos happening 
around us, confirm a guy who helped cause the last crash, and then go 
on vacation for 2 weeks. If the Republicans do that, it will be a month 
before Congress can vote to reverse the President's disastrous tariffs 
and demonstrate to the world that there are some limits on his ability 
to cause economic chaos.
  The Republican approach is reckless, it is dangerous, and most of 
all, it is cowardly. Trillions of dollars in wealth evaporated last 
week. Who knows how much irreversible damage will be done to our 
economy in a month or in 90 days when Trump decides to put these 
tariffs back on, back off, back on, and back off. Does anyone want to 
find out? I certainly don't.
  This kind of uncertainty is enormously damaging to our economy. In 
the meantime, all that happens is that CEOs continue to bow and scrape 
to Donald Trump at black-tie galas, hoping to secure loopholes for 
their own companies.

  Congress has the tools to put a stop to this. We need to act now to 
stop the chaos. Senator Wyden's and my bipartisan resolution would turn 
off the emergency, bogus declaration that Donald Trump is using. It 
would demonstrate that Congress is willing to stand up and say that 
Donald Trump will not have the magic wand to continue to turn tariffs 
on and off at whim. I urge my Republican colleagues to join us and to 
vote down the President's abuse of emergency authorities.
  Republicans in Congress have a choice to make. They can continue to 
bow down to Donald Trump while he sabotages our economy, or they can 
stand up for the American people who elected them.
  Every Democrat is ready to go. We are ready to vote to end this 
destructive tariff war, but we need Republicans to stand up and show 
some courage.
  If Republicans don't step up and our economy falls off a cliff, we 
will know who is responsible. If Trump's tariff games of ``on-again, 
off-again'' crash our economy, we know which Republicans will be 
responsible. If Trump's tariff games lead to layoffs around the 
country, we know which Republicans will be responsible. If Trump's 
tariff games force small businesses to close their doors, we know which 
Republicans will be responsible. If Trump's tariff games hurt our 
farmers, we know which Republicans will be responsible. If Trump's 
tariff games force retirees to have to get out and find work, we know 
which Republicans will be responsible.
  We know who is responsible, and it is every single one of these 
cowards who will not take the blowtorch out of Donald Trump's hands. 
These Republican Senators understand that what is happening is not 
normal. They understand that we are in an extremely dangerous moment. 
They understand that if Congress does not act, Americans of every 
class, every race, every age, every religion, every region of the 
country, and every political party will suffer. This is the time for 
Republicans to act.
  Donald Trump's friends at Mar-a-Lago may flatter him over candlelit 
dinners and tell him he is all powerful, but Donald Trump is not a 
King, and Congress is not powerless. We can act to stop him, and that 
is exactly what we should do.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Justice). The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Washington.