Greer testifies before Senate Finance Committee

Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.

Greer’s office published its view of the highlights of the hearing.

USTR said Greer laid out “how President Trump is leveraging tariffs and trade deals to secure better wages and expand market access for American farmers, manufacturers, workers, and businesses.”

Greer also said he countered statements by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., that the Trump administration’s tariffs had led to inflation, but The Guardian noted that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the committee, said an estimate – produced by Democrats and based on the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Treasury Department’s own numbers – showed families were paying an average of $1,700 more in tariff costs since Trump’s return to office.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ranking member on the committee, said he was introducing the Congressional Trade Powers Reform Act, which would require congressional approval of any tariff proposed by the president.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, highlighted in a news release that he had complimented Trump for delaying the 18% duties on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer and urged Greer, who was headed to Mexico for U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement negotiations, to make sure “we don’t get caught up in the crossfire of trade retaliation.”

-The Hagstrom Report