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Roll Call
Roll Call
Olivia M. Bridges

USTR pick Greer would open markets to offset tariff retaliation - Roll Call

Jamieson Greer, the nominee to be U.S. trade representative, defended President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs Thursday and vowed to expand agricultural markets to ease retaliatory pain on farmers and to rely on “enforcement” for trade deals with China. 

At a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing, Greer, who was the chief of staff for former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, defended the tariff policy less than a week after Trump imposed tariffs on goods imports from Mexico, Canada and China, only to postpone them for a month on Mexico and Canada. 

Greer, now a partner at King and Spalding law firm, said the tariffs are aimed at spurring action from the three counties to curtail the flow of fentanyl and migration into the U.S.

“It’s important to remember that when we have trade agreements, they all contain an exception for measures related to essential security. And if dealing with illegal migration of criminals or dealing with fentanyl or issues like that come up, this is very clearly an issue of essential security,” said Greer, who helped negotiate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade as well as the U.S. Japan agreement. 

The panel also approved en bloc by voice vote the committee budget, subcommittee assignments, rules, designation of members of the Joint Tax Committee, and designation of the congressional trade advisers. 

Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Saturday, making them effective on Tuesday, but decided on Monday to postpone them for a month. He also imposed 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods imports. Those tariffs remain in place. 

Trade experts warned that Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico would violate the USMCA. The agreement is up for review in 2026, and Trump issued a memo on Jan. 20 ordering USTR to begin taking public comments on the agreement.

“What specific changes to the agreement would you advocate for?” asked Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. 

Greer said the U.S. should “look closely at things like the rules of origin to make sure that third countries or foreign countries of concern are not inadvertently or deliberately benefiting or free riding on the agreement at the expense of America and our trading partners.”

Greer also suggested that the first Trump administration wasn’t fully successful with the so-called Phase One agreement reached with China after the two countries slapped mutual tariffs on one another’s goods. 

China committed in that deal to purchase an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods over 2020 and 2021. The Peterson Institute for International Economics reported in 2022 that commitment fell short, with China buying only 58 percent of the goods agreed upon, not enough to reach its import levels before the trade war started. 

“We don’t just want to pound our fist and have rhetoric. We want to be able to very clearly see where they did or did not comply,” Greer said. “And then from there, you move to dispute settlement and you move to enforcement, if you need to.”

Trump’s Jan. 20 memo directed USTR to review the agreement and make recommendations accordingly.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., questioned Greer how the U.S. can “rightsize” its relationship with China.

“It also seems to me that there are countries like China — I’m not sure the politically right way to say this — but they cheat, they steal, and yet, with the World Trade Organization, they still have a most favored nation status,” Scott said.

Greer said that “granting China permanent normal trade relations is one major cause of why we’re in the situation we’re in now with unbalanced trade.”

Expanding markets 

Members also pressed Greer about the impact of tariffs and retaliation on small business and agriculture.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said small businesses have already experienced harm despite the month-long pause on the tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

“I received a call from a Reno small business yesterday that one of their customers in Canada has canceled their project due to uncertainty, costing them tens of thousands of dollars,” Cortez Masto said. “These are threats that are real. They’re impacting our small businesses.”

She asked Greer what she should say to small businesses and how to ensure that workers are not going to be “collateral damages” in a trade war.

Greer recommended that small businesses talk to USTR and provide feedback. “The president knows how to shepherd the economy. He knows how to balance these things,” he added.

Chairman Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, said farmers are concerned about retaliation. “How will you support the interests of America’s farmers and ranchers once you’re confirmed as our nation’s chief trade negotiator?” he asked.

The Agriculture Department estimated that tariff retaliation in Trump’s first trade war delivered more than a $27 billion loss in U.S. agricultural exports, or $13.2 billion annualized, from mid-2018 to the end of 2019. A second trade war could bring a repeat blow.

“We need to go and gain market access where things have been closed until now,” Greer said. “For many decades, we have had a trading system where the United States opens its market over and over again and others do not.”

He proposed expanding agricultural markets. Greer said that the average tariff ceiling on agricultural products is 39 percent in India and nearly 40 percent in Turkey.

“These are markets where they need to open to the United States, and I think we need to use all the tools at our disposal to do so,” Greer said.

The post USTR pick Greer would open markets to offset tariff retaliation appeared first on Roll Call.

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