Posted on 03/31/2025 1:31:05 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., told Newsmax on Monday that President Donald Trump's tariff actions are "all about fairness."
The congressman told "Newsline" that the president is correct when he points to unfair trade policies imposed on the U.S. by a long list of nations.
"It's time that we push back," Smith said. "The prior administration was completely out to lunch when it came to trade policy.
"So thankful that we have President Trump leading on the world stage in this area."
Smith said no one can challenge Trump's assessment of unfair trade policies.
"A recent study of 132 different countries of over 600,000 products, U.S. exporters, two thirds of them, two thirds, had higher tariffs than other countries," the congressman said. "That's not playing by the rules. And these countries have been taking advantage of the United States for a long time."
Smith said Trump knows how to manage the imposition of new tariffs to bring balance to the world stage.
"And what the president will do on Wednesday is exactly what he campaigned on," Smith said. "He's fulfilling his campaign promises. And 77 million Americans voted for this."
He also pointed out nontariff trade barriers imposed on American farmers and manufacturers must be addressed to bring balance to global trade.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I listened to a commentator make a case for legitimate imbalances in payments. Country X mines, say, bauxite. It sells that material to the US. But it cannot possibly import enough to make the balance zero. There isn’t enough demand or population for the number of American products. Apparently, this is common. So, in this case, the US consumer will simply pay more for the products made with bauxite. (There are lot of one commodity countries.)
Having said that. I think Trump’s tariffs are more about managing the politics of the situation as opposed to the economics. You do this or else we make you uncompetitive. They do whatever he wants, and the tariff threat goes away.
Trump is the first refreshingly bold president since Reagan. I’ve always got popcorn popping when I read the news.
Except Navarro said today that tariffs are now US economic policy. Is is retaliatory or not? Seems we are getting varying confirmations.
Here’s a pretty good Trump Tariff tracker. They’re all over the place. It also tells what they’re actually trying to do. Good read.
https://www.investopedia.com/tariff-tracker-where-do-president-trump-trade-proposals-stand-11702803
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.