President Trump’s top trade official defended the administration’s aggressive tariff moves on Tuesday, arguing before a Senate committee that the U.S. economy is facing “a moment of drastic, overdue change” after decades of factories moving overseas and hurting the American working class.
The remarks by Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, came as the Trump administration faced blowback from trading partners, businesses and investors over sweeping tariffs that snap into effect tomorrow.
The president’s decision this month to impose a 10 percent global tariff and far steeper “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries has triggered a trade war with China and caused other countries to draw up their own retaliation plans. Economists have raised their expectations for a recession in the United States, and many now consider the odds to be a coin flip.
Mr. Trump has dismissed those concerns and said he will not back away from his trade agenda, which he says is necessary to return manufacturing and industrial production to the United States. He and his economic advisers have pointed to recent entreaties by countries to lower their own tariffs to try to defuse the tension, though some officials have given mixed signals about how willing the president will be to negotiate.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he had “a great call” with South Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, about trade and tariffs and that South Korean officials were heading to the United States for talks. He also expressed optimism that a trade war with China could be averted.
“China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started,” Mr. Trump wrote. “We are waiting for their call. It will happen!”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a briefing Tuesday that Mr. Trump had spoken with the president of Japan on Monday and that 70 foreign governments had made appeals to the United States to reduce the tariffs.
“America does not need other countries as much as other countries need us, and President Trump knows this,” she said.
But she emphasized that the United States would be seeking out deals, saying that the president had asked his advisers to “have tailor-made trade deals with each and every country that calls up this administration to strike a deal.”
Ms. Leavitt also rejected the idea that the request represented an “evolution” from aides’ earlier comments that there would not be a negotiation over tariffs and said the president was not planning to pause his plan. “He expects these tariffs are going to go into effect,” she said.
Mr. Greer said in his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee that the president imposed the tariffs to achieve “reciprocal treatment from other countries.” He added that the policy was already working, citing announcements that companies have made in recent weeks of investments in the United States.
He declined to say how long the tariffs would be in effect, saying that the administration was looking at it “country by country.”
“Our large and persistent trade deficit has been over 30 years in the making, and it will not be resolved overnight, but all of this is in the right direction,” Mr. Greer said.
Mr. Trump’s aggressive tariffs have prompted sharp blowback from Democrats in Congress and increasing nervousness from Republicans, who are under pressure from constituents to defend their export markets.
A bipartisan group of senators — including Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the committee; the minority leader Chuck Schumer; and one Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky — plans to introduce a resolution later this week that would terminate the national emergency the president declared to introduce his tariffs.
But the measure would face a tough path to passage. If the House approves it, Congress would need enough votes to override the president’s veto. And the House may take action so it is not forced to vote on the resolution.
Last week, the Senate approved a similar measure to scrap the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on Canada, but House Republicans moved pre-emptively to shut down the requirement that they vote on such a measure.
Representatives Don Bacon of Nebraska and Jeff Hurd of Colorado, both Republicans, introduced a bipartisan House bill on Monday that would give Congress the final say on any proposed tariffs. The measure, cosponsored by two Democrats, Representatives Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Gregory W. Meeks of New York, has not yet drawn any other Republican supporters.
But Mr. Bacon said on Monday that he had spoken to several other colleagues — “like, 10 to 20” — who said they liked the proposal but wanted to wait and hear from Mr. Greer on Capitol Hill. On Wednesday, Mr. Greer will testify before the House Ways and Means Committee.
For Democrats, the tariffs have provided plenty of fodder to argue that Mr. Trump is mismanaging the economy.
“The U.S. economy has gone from the envy of the world to a laughingstock, in less time than it took to finish March Madness,” Mr. Wyden said on Tuesday. “Through it all, Donald Trump and his advisers have yet to provide any understandable explanation at all for what his tax hike on the American people is supposed to accomplish.”
“Donald Trump is single-handedly driving this economy off a cliff with no evidence to back him up,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts.
Republicans have also been on edge about the tariffs, straining to balance their support for Mr. Trump with the growing anxiety of their constituents. Several Republican lawmakers had forceful exchanges with Mr. Greer about whether the tariffs were a negotiating tool and whether businesses that depend on imported products might find relief.
“We need to think strategically about tariff policy, including how to minimize unnecessary costs on American families,” Senator Michael D. Crapo, the Republican chairman of the finance committee, said. “I also recognize that although it is easy to see the costs arising from tariffs, it is far more difficult to assess the cost of denied market access opportunities.”
Senator Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, said he was concerned about the inflationary effect of tariffs on consumers. But he said he was encouraged that other countries were approaching the United States to negotiate. He said that stock markets were rebounding Tuesday because “there’s hope that these tariffs are means and not solely an end,” he said.
U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday after several days of losses and increased trading volatility as investors grappled with the possibility of supply chain disruptions, inflation and a global recession. Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, dismissed the rebound in the hearing Tuesday as “a good day in hospice,” saying that more than $11 trillion had vanished from the stock market since inauguration.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association, which represents major companies like Walmart, Target, Starbucks and Best Buy, released a statement ahead of Mr. Greer’s testimony saying that the tariffs had caused “disruption and uncertainty in the markets and with consumers” and could drive up prices for products like baby clothes, handbags and paper plates.
“Americans elected President Trump to lower inflation and grow the economy,” the group said. “Instead, these broad-based tariffs threaten family pocketbooks and risk destabilizing confidence in the economy.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was viewed by Wall Street as a potential voice of moderation on tariffs, appeared to be trying to calm markets on Tuesday when he said that more than 70 countries had reached out to negotiate tariff reductions.
“I think you are going to see some very large countries with large trade deficits come forward very quickly,” Mr. Bessent told CNBC. “If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals.”
However, the Treasury secretary assailed China for retaliating against the United States with tariffs of its own and warned that America has more leverage in a trade war with the world’s second largest economy. After China said it would retaliate against Mr. Trump’s tariffs, Mr. Trump announced an additional 50 percent tariff on the country that will come into effect after midnight Wednesday.
“What do we lose by the Chinese raising tariffs on us?” Mr. Bessent said. “We export one-fifth to them of what they export to us, so that is a losing hand for them.”
During the trade fight with China in Mr. Trump’s first term, U.S. agricultural exports plummeted after China imposed high retaliatory duties on soybean, corn, wheat and other American imports, and the United States spent about $23 billion to support American farmers.
In Mr. Greer’s hearing, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, one of the few Republicans who have signed on to legislation opposing Mr. Trump’s tariffs, said that agriculture “is usually the first place of retaliation.”
Mr. Grassley said that he supported the president generally but believed that Congress had delegated too much authority to him over trade. He said he had taken a “wait and see” approach to tariffs because he believed Mr. Trump and Mr. Greer were using them as a tool to get fairer trade.
“If that’s not the case, level with me,” Mr. Grassley told Mr. Greer.
Maya C. Miller and Tony Romm contributed reporting.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters.
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