PHOENIX — On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced historic sweeping tariffs on all countries and Congressional Democrats across the United States have been pushing back, including Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton.
China has been among the hardest hit by the tariffs. It responded to the 34% tax on its exports to the U.S. with the same taxation on American imports.
Stanton told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Friday that the tariffs are causing pain for the American people.
“It’s causing the stock market to crumble, two of its worst days in history yesterday and today,” Stanton said. “It’s turning our back on our allies as we are trying to win this world competition with China.”
“We should be trying to bring jobs back to North America, manufacturing back to North America, (but) these tariffs are sending us in the wrong direction.”
Why did Trump enact global tariffs?
Trump’s goal in implementing these tariffs is “to strengthen the international economic position of the United States and protect American workers,” according to a White House press release. His administration also claimed the tariffs will “ensure fair trade” and “reduce the trade deficit.”
The 45th and 47th president doubled down on the tariff release on Truth Social Friday morning, posting in all caps, “To the many investors coming into the United States and investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change.”
Despite this recent defiance by Trump, Stanton said Congressional Democrats — and “three courageous Republicans” — can stop the tariffs from causing further damage.
“And what we can do with the House of Representatives is (create) a discharge petition,” Stanton said. “(It would) release the bill that would have the Congress vote on these tariffs. … This president is using so-called emergency powers to get it done. It’s actually the role of Congress to approve these tariffs.”
Stanton didn’t say the House Democrats have gotten any definitive Republican cooperation, but said there’s been “good conversation” on that front.
Does Greg Stanton see any positives in new Trump tariffs?
Stanton said the U.S. should be using tariffs in “strategic ways” that make “good economic sense,” such as when other countries are acting out of line and on a temporary basis.
“These (tariffs) are across the board tariffs that are meant to stay permanently because the president wants to use it as a revenue source for (the) United States to replace incomes taxes,” Stanton said. “But what it really is, is a massive tax increase on the American people.”
While Stanton acknowledged Trump wants to return American to “The Golden Age,” once experienced in the late 1800s, he said the sitting administration should be focused on lowering cost domestically right now.
In order to make the U.S. less dependent on foreign manufacturing — which is a primary goal of Trump’s tariffs — Stanton pointed to a recent $100 billion investment in Arizona’s semiconductor production effort by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).
“Having a smart industrial policy in the United States is the best way to reengage with advanced manufacturing in the United States, not through a tariff policy,” Stanton said.
The post Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton: Trump’s historic tariffs ‘causing pain,’ can be stopped in Congress appeared first on KTAR.
