Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Donald Trump Selling Out The American People Through Failed Trade Negotiations With China, Announcing Democrats Will Force More Votes To End Trump’s Disastrous Trade War
Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on Donald Trump’s tasteless trip to Asia where he has been gallivanting around while the U.S. remains in a government shutdown, and his continued efforts to sell out the American people with failed trade policies and inability to negotiate with China. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
As we enter the 29th day of the government shutdown, where is Donald Trump? He is gallivanting in Asia, dancing in Malaysia.
He is preparing now to meet with President Xi of China to strike a trade deal that will sell out the American people, give away vital national security tools, in exchange for little more than a photo op.
President Trump is about to congratulate himself, patting himself hard on the back, for cleaning up a mess that he created.
Again, President Trump is about to congratulate himself for cleaning up a mess that he created. It’s amazing what this guy does.
It’s the same story with his so-called “deal” with South Korea. We are actually worse off because tariffs on Korean imports went from 2% now to 15%. But Donald Trump created a mess and now wants credit for pretending like he fixed it.
On China, Donald Trump’s trade negotiations with China have been a failure. His actions have decimated soybean farmers. He has hurt small businesses.
And has any of this revived American manufacturing? No!
China is still flooding global markets with subsidized goods and still stealing American technologies to undercut U.S. firms and workers. Meanwhile, we have lost tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs this year.
This is Trump's M.O. in foreign policy. He creates a giant mess. Then he wants everyone to praise him when he tries to clean it up and ignore the damage that he has inflicted. He creates the mess, tries to clean it up, and pats himself on the back when we're no better off than when we started.
Now, in anticipation of today’s meeting with President Trump and President Xi, Senate Democrats are demanding that President Trump not negotiate away America and our allies’ national security. He is using the most advanced semiconductor chips – which China doesn’t have – as a bargaining chip. China is desperate to get these chips. If Trump gives these away, China will dominate the world of AI in a few short years, and Americans will pay an awful price.
Where are our China hawks on the Republican side decrying this? Where are they? Because these chips are vital, and it's American technology that has produced them. American companies make them. China is desperate to get them because it will make them the leader in AI in a few years –the most dominant technology in the world. And Trump is willing to give away those crown jewels so he can say he has a deal and undo the mess that he created with tariffs.
Donald Trump’s chip deal is not America first, but China first – putting China first over the next decade in what is the most crucial technology facing the world. Americans will regret that move for generations. Historians will note it as one of the turning points where America became not the primary power in the world, but secondary to China. And it’s all because Trump wants an immediate press hit to say, hey, I have a deal, even though that deal doesn't move us forward at all and cleans up the mess he created.
Now, President Trump’s trip to the Asian continent could have been a real opportunity to make progress with America’s vital trading partners. He could have used this trip to end his reckless trade war, to stop alienating our allies, to show strength and unite our allies against the Chinese Communist Party, and, most importantly, to help Americans struggling with high costs here at home. But so far, his trip has been a total dud. By the end of his trip to Asia, it could be the case that we somehow have higher tariffs on our neighbor Canada than we do against our biggest rival China. How on earth does that make sense?
In fact, the biggest news out of this trip is that Donald Trump seems to have realized he can’t run for a third term. That just goes to show you how fruitless this trip has been.
American families are facing enough problems right now, with the nightmare of open enrollment, the pain of higher groceries, the prices of everything from cars to home appliances to electricity skyrocketing. The last thing they want is to turn on the TV and see Trump being gifted a golden crown and then signing a deal with China that royally screws over Americans.
Trump’s trade war has been an utter disaster from the start. It’s been a nightmare for our allies, for our economy, for our families, who are paying more because of the Trump tariff tax.
I’m proud the Senate came together in a bipartisan vote, 52-48, to end Trump’s tariffs on Brazil yesterday. The tariffs he put on Brazil were simply because he's angry that the Brazilian government is prosecuting a friend of his, a guy who's MAGA just like him. Isn't that amazing? That's why he put Trump tariffs on Brazil. That's why Americans are paying more for their cup of coffee in the morning, because Trump wants to embrace and help a MAGA right-wing guy who's being prosecuted by the legitimate Brazilian government? It's amazing.
And this week we’ll have more resolutions this week to push back on Trump’s trade war and help stop the bleeding.
Our Republican colleagues will have a choice: stand with Trump's idiotic, disastrous, and often juvenile-inspired tariffs or stand with American families and vote to lower costs for the people back home.
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