[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 133 (Friday, August 1, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5177-S5178]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Tariffs

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning, we got some more 
troublesome news about the economy under Donald Trump. Today, we 
learned the economy added only 73,000 jobs last month, far below 
expectations.
  But that wasn't the worst of it. We also learned the economy actually 
added less than 20,000 jobs, each in May and June, the 2 months 
following Donald Trump's Liberation Day. That is more than 250,000 
fewer jobs than originally thought. Let me say that again. We learned 
this morning that the economy actually added over a quarter million 
fewer jobs than originally thought. We also learned that unemployment 
has gone up.

[[Page S5178]]

  It is disturbing to say, but the chickens are coming home to roost on 
Donald Trump's destructive trade war and the American people are paying 
the price.
  You sow chaos, Donald Trump, you reap chaos.
  And that is what the President is finding out this morning. A quarter 
million fewer jobs is a significant revision and a flashing red light. 
Donald Trump's chaotic tariffs are already bleeding our economy of 
good-paying jobs. In fact, aside from the pandemic, this job revision 
is the largest since 1979. In other words, the revision saying we lost 
jobs is more than any since 1979 except for the period of COVID. That 
is what tariff whiplash looks like.
  Businesses--small, large, medium--always need stability. But 
businesses are waving around their arms in the dark without a clue of 
what Donald Trump is going to do next. And we now have clear evidence 
that it is stunting hiring and growth. If Donald Trump's tariffs have 
created this much trouble just 4 months after Liberation Day, imagine 
the trouble Americans will have 8 months after Liberation Day, a year 
after Liberation Day, when the effects of tariffs go further and more 
deeply into the economy.
  Remember, this jobs report comes a day after we learned inflation 
accelerated over the last month, and it comes 2 days after we learned 
growth slowed down in the first half of this year and that business 
investment is down--down--3 percent.
  But what is Donald Trump doing about all this? As bad as his previous 
trade policies have been, today he is doubling down on his awful trade 
policies. Last night, he imposed a slew of tariffs on 68 countries 
around the world, including some of our most important trading 
partners.
  Again, if the effects of Liberation Day have been this bad just in 4 
months, imagine the pain and harm Americans will feel 8 months, 12 
months from now with these new tariffs just imposed yesterday.
  Well, if this is what Liberation Day was supposed to look like, then 
God help us. Hiring is down; prices are ticking up; families are paying 
more than $2,400 a year because of these tariffs--$2,400 is a lot of 
money, even to families way into the middle class.
  Businesses have no clue of what Donald Trump is doing next. Worse, we 
still don't have any idea what Donald Trump is actually agreeing to 
with partners like Japan, the European Union, and South Korea.
  Typical of this administration, this President mistells the truth. He 
lies more than any other President we have seen. He just makes it up as 
he goes along and then changes, retracts--we know all about those 
cartoons, that he never did cartoons. That happens over and over again. 
And somehow too many of the American people forgive him for baldly 
lying.
  Look at these trade breakthroughs. Look at the pattern. Donald Trump 
hails the agreement as a major breakthrough, announces huge amounts of 
money coming into the United States. Then the next day, the people he 
has made the deals with, the countries he made the deals with retract. 
They say that didn't happen. He just makes it up.
  But Donald Trump, you pay the price for making it up because 
businesses don't know what you are doing and so they cut back. Business 
investment was down 3 percent in the last quarter. Before Donald Trump 
was President--let's not forget, he is trying to sell a 15-percent 
tariff as a great thing. Before Donald Trump was President, these 
countries had tariffs in the 1 percent to 2 percent range. Now it is 15 
percent.
  Do you know what that is? That is a price hike on American families. 
Asking Americans to bear the brunt of 15-percent tariffs is no sane 
person's definition of victory.
  Instead of cutting off five of your fingers, we are only cutting off 
three. Don't you want to congratulate us? That is the kind of thing 
Donald Trump says.
  We have no clue what America is actually getting in return. In fact, 
we don't even know what these deals are because Trump lies about them. 
There is a pattern here. As I said, there is a pattern. One day, Donald 
Trump comes out bragging that his so-called deals are somehow major 
victories. But the next day, reality sets in, and it is abundantly 
clear when you look at the details, he lied, exaggerated, hyped what 
was in the deals. One day, he said Japan is going to invest $500 
billion in the United States. You know what Japan says the next day? It 
is, at most, 2 percent of that $500 billion--2 percent.
  How does this guy get away with it?
  But he doesn't get away with it because the chaos he creates, the 
mistrust he creates hurts businesses and hurts the country.
  So we want to know--the administration refuses to be transparent, 
refuses to provide the details, and that is very bad for the American 
people and for the economy. So, today, my colleagues and I are urging 
transparency from the administration. We are writing Secretary Bessent, 
Secretary Lutnick, and Ambassador Greer to immediately come clean with 
answers to a number of important questions about Donald Trump's trade 
deal.

  First of all, how are any of these deals going to be actually 
verified and enforced? How do we know these investments Donald Trump 
has bragged about are going to take place because it seems the 
countries who are making the deals have a different story than what 
Trump tells? Second, what system or mechanism exists to track any of 
this information? What industries will see the benefit? What kind of 
investments are we talking about? Have they thought these things 
through or does this pop up in Donald Trump's head, and it then comes 
out of his mouth?
  Finally--especially crucially--how do we know that these investments, 
even if they happen, are going to benefit the public and not just 
benefit the businesses and industries owned by Donald Trump and his 
friends?
  We have seen over and over again that what they do in the White House 
doesn't benefit the American people but benefits the people who work in 
the White House, their cronies, and Donald Trump, himself, who is 
gaining millions and millions of dollars from his Presidency by taking 
advantage of the laws they passed. No other President would do it. 
Ronald Reagan would turn over in his grave if he saw what Trump was 
doing to benefit himself as President. It causes Americans to just lose 
faith in democracy.
  It has been 4 months since Donald Trump's so-called Liberation Day. 
By now, we have enough evidence to show these chaotic tariffs are 
inflicting real damage to the economy. We would be foolish to think 
doubling down is somehow going to make it better, but that is what 
Trump did yesterday.
  Donald Trump needs to reverse course because the only deal he has 
actually struck is a raw deal for American families. The only deal 
Donald Trump has struck is a raw deal for American families, consumers, 
and businesses. Today's jobs report is the latest warning sign that 
this tariff chaos must end.