PHOENIX – An Arizona Republican congressman is expressing concerns about the rollout of President Donald Trump’s tariff plan.
“My fear is, if we don’t get disciplined, we may actually hurt the economic revival of the country more than we’re helping it,” Rep. David Schweikert told KTAR New 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Tuesday.
Schweikert said Trump’s tariffs are creating confusion among his constituents in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, which covers parts of north Phoenix, Scottsdale and other northeast Valley suburbs.
“We actually have a number of businesses in our Phoenix-Scottsdale area that specialize in doing very technical things where some of the materials … only come from other parts … of the world,” he said. “And they’re just sort of shaking saying, ‘We manufacture stuff, but we need inputs. Now we’re not sure what the actual cost of those inputs are.’”
Arizona Republican says Congress has given up power
Schweikert also said he believes Congress gave up too much power over tariffs and “so much more” over the years to avoid responsibility.
“Congress in many ways, when they don’t want to do things that are difficult, they hand it to the bureaucracy, they hand it to the regulators, they hand it to the White House,” he said. “And it’s just a complete avoidance of having to explain to your voters why you actually had to do hard things.”
The eight-term Arizona Republican congressman said his issues with the new tariffs aren’t their scope, but with the way Trump is unveiling them.
“What’s the ultimate goal? Is this about tax receipts? Is this about revenues? Or is it about a manufacturing renaissance?” he wondered.
If stimulating domestic manufacturing is the aim, Schweikert said tariffs alone won’t do the trick.
“Have we built the rules? Have we built the regulations? Have we built the relationships with countries where we need sort of those raw material inputs?” he said. “There’s a whole series of sequencing, of timing that has to be laid out to actually make that renaissance work.”
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