WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Michael Bennet (D-CO) released the following statement on the Trump administration’s 25 percent tariffs on U.S. trading partners, Canada and Mexico:
“President Trump’s decision to impose across-the-board tariffs on Canada and Mexico, two of our strongest international partners and closest neighbors, is the wrong one. Let’s be clear: these tariffs are a tax on U.S. consumers and businesses and will hit Americans in their pocketbooks – raising costs on everyday groceries, utility bills and more. These tariffs make the United States weaker, not stronger.
“Meanwhile, the President is talking about ‘major’ economic deals with Russia, which continues to wage an unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine. It is illogical and contrary to longstanding American interests and values to go halfway around the world to cut deals with a dictator who attacks U.S. infrastructure and imprisons Americans while damaging key relationships with our neighbors and cutting off trade with our closest partners right here in North America.
“And to make things worse, these are the very countries with which this President negotiated the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) during his first term. President Trump is breaking the very deal he negotiated, begging the question: How can any foreign leader trust this President to negotiate in good faith? These tariffs will sow even greater doubts about our reliability as a trade and diplomatic partner going forward.
“This incoherent trade war will hurt American workers and families, stymie international cooperation on transnational challenges like irregular migration and drug trafficking, and undermine our ability to compete with China. It will serve neither the American people nor the American interest.”
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