CSPAN - Washington Journal Rep. Adrian Smith
Aired: 2025-01-15
Duration: 05:58


=== Trade Negotiations and Tariffs (05:43) ===

[00:00:15]  And the House has gaveled out.
[00:00:17]  Today, members are working on several pieces of legislation, including a measure to provide tax relief for residents of Taiwan who also pay U.S. taxes.
[00:00:25]  Lawmakers are also considering a measure to increase transparency for the incomes of certain employees of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public power provider.
[00:00:36]  And later this week, we expect a bill to come to the floor that would deport undocumented immigrants convicted of certain sex offenses and other violent crimes.
[00:00:44]  You can watch live coverage of the House when members return right here on C-SPAN.
[00:00:56]  Democracy is always an unfinished creation.
[00:01:00]  Democracy is worth dying for.
[00:01:02]  Democracy belongs to us all.
[00:01:04]  We are here in the sanctuary of democracy.
[00:01:07]  Great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies.
[00:01:12]  American democracy is bigger than any one person.
[00:01:14]  Freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected.
[00:01:20]  We are still at our core a democracy.
[00:01:23]  This is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom.
[00:01:34]  We are joined by Representative Adrian Smith, Republican of Nebraska.
[00:01:38]  He's the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chair, and he serves the third district of the state of Nebraska.
[00:01:44]  Representative Smith, thanks for joining us.
[00:01:46]  Great to be here.
[00:01:46]  Good morning.
[00:01:47]  As chair of the subcommittee, can we get your personal thoughts on how tariffs should be applied in the United States?
[00:01:53]  Well, tariffs are something that's been around a long time.
[00:01:57]  We've found out that they can have varied impact at various times, impact the economy as well.
[00:02:06]  Overall, I can't say I'm a huge fan of tariffs, but I do believe they need to be a tool in the toolbox as negotiations take place.
[00:02:15]  It's very important that we are tough negotiators to level the playing field that over time has been pretty slanted against us.
[00:02:22]  When you say you're not a huge fan, is that because of their ultimate impact on an economy or are there other reasons?
[00:02:27]  That potential, certainly.
[00:02:29]  And representing a lot of agriculture, we don't really like it when other countries place tariffs on our products.
[00:02:35]  And we're good exporters of ag products, let's face it.
[00:02:39]  Other countries tend to like our quality and price and value.
[00:02:44]  And so we don't like it when they place the tariffs on us.
[00:02:46]  That said, we need to keep our options on the table as negotiations would move forward.
[00:02:51]  President Olik Trump has talked about a variety of ways to approach tariffs and wants to achieve certain amounts of things with them.
[00:02:58]  Generally, what do you think of the approach he's taking?
[00:03:01]  Well, I think it's important that we drive a tough negotiation.
[00:03:05]  And, you know, I've shared this with a lot of folks that we need to level the playing field, make no mistake.
[00:03:12]  And I think what we've seen over the last four years and lack of action, in fact, some of my Democrat colleagues just yesterday in committee criticized tariffs.
[00:03:24]  Now that Trump's coming back in, even though nothing was done about tariffs over the last four years, and let me say even more importantly, there was such a lack of action on trade across the board for the last four years.
[00:03:39]  That inaction, I think, is especially damaging because our competitors, our trade partners, expect more from the United States of America than what they've seen in the last four years.
[00:03:51]  Specifically, then, what would you like to see the administration do to a specific country when it comes to tariff policy?
[00:03:56]  Take Kenya, for example.
[00:03:58]  The previous Trump administration teed up a trade agreement with Kenya.
[00:04:02]  Now, Kenya already enjoys the benefits of what we call AGOA, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, an important policy.
[00:04:10]  Kenya enjoys those benefits, basically tariff relief.
[00:04:14]  And so there are other aspects, though, of trade with Kenya that we could benefit from in terms of market access, agriculture being one of those.
[00:04:22]  So the Trump administration teed up a trade agreement, like I said, with Kenya.
[00:04:27]  The Biden administration comes in and says, well, we'll talk about trade, but not about tariffs.
[00:04:32]  I can't understand why that's been the case when, like I said, Kenya already benefits from a GOA.
[00:04:40]  Let's talk about market access and how we, our exporters from the United States, can get their products into a country such as Kenya on a continent that's growing in population.
[00:04:53]  That's what separates Africa from so many other continents is its growing population.
[00:04:58]  And I suppose those countries go, then China would come to the top of that list as far as how we apply those tariffs.
[00:05:03]  What's the concern and what's the benefit of applying tariffs going forward or applying other tariffs?
[00:05:08]  Well, the details can be very fine on all of trade.
[00:05:14]  Trade is a lot of work.
[00:05:16]  And with growing technology, diversifying economies, that makes trade even more difficult.
[00:05:23]  So digital, for example, that is an important one because the U.S. leads the world in digital trade.
[00:05:31]  Other countries say, well, that's a great source of revenue, especially if it only comes from another country such as ours.
[00:05:38]  That can be damaging in various ways, among them access to information and the flow of information.
[00:05:47]  That is important as well.
[00:05:49]  China, as a competitor, let's face it, and they are engaging in places around the world where we are not.
[00:05:57]  That's a problem.