[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1066]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

  Mr. SCHUMER. Fourth, on the Executive action that the President will 
be withdrawing the United States from the TPP, or the Trans-Pacific 
Partnership, as you know, my views on trade are probably closer to 
President Trump's than they were to President Obama and President Bush. 
I opposed NAFTA and TPP. But the fact that the President announced with 
fanfare that he will be withdrawing the United States from the Trans-
Pacific Partnership is not news. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was dead 
long ago, before President Trump took office. That is why Leader 
McConnell didn't bring it up on the floor in the lameduck session. It 
didn't have the votes and was even further away from getting votes in 
the Senate. It was over.
  We await real action on trade, one of the President's signature 
campaign issues. Now, what President Trump said in his campaign over 
and over was that, on his first day as President, he would label China 
a currency manipulator. That hasn't happened. Even though China is 
letting their currency float at the moment, you can be sure they will 
return to manipulating their currency--hurting our exports, helping 
them unfairly compete with American jobs and businesses--as soon as it 
is in their best interest to do so.
  I worked, frankly, with the nominee for Attorney General, Jeff 
Sessions, and with many others to try and get both President Bush and 
President Obama to label China a currency manipulator. It didn't 
happen, unfortunately. But President Trump promised that he was going 
to do it on his first day in office, and it has not happened. If 
President Trump wants to send a shot across the bow that he is getting 
serious on trade, addressing the currency issue would have been a lot 
more effective than a meaningless and redundant Executive order on the 
TPP.
  While we are on the subject of trade, I remind the President of the 
two simple rules he laid out in his inaugural address: buy American and 
hire American--two rules that his current businesses don't follow. 
Trump shirts and ties are made in China; Trump furniture is made in 
Turkey. While he is importuning others to ``make it in America''--I 
don't disagree with that--he should start by demanding it of his own 
businesses. How can he expect others to do something that he is not 
doing? He wants the automobile makers to make cars in America. So do I. 
Then he ought to stop making his ties in China and his furniture in 
Turkey. He ought to set a good example. Until he totally and completely 
divests himself from his businesses, which is the right thing to do, he 
ought to start following the rules himself that he has laid out for the 
country.

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