Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Donald Trump’s Chaotic “Liberation Day” Tariffs Harming The Economy And Hurting Working Families
Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs and fake trade deals, which have slowed job growth and raised prices on American familes. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
This morning, we got some more troublesome news about the economy under Donald Trump. Today we learned the economy added only 73,000 jobs last month, far below expectations.
But that wasn’t the worst of it: we also learned the economy actually added less than 20,000 jobs each in May and June, the two months following Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day.” That’s more than 250,000 fewer jobs than we originally thought.
Let me say that again: we learned this morning that the economy actually added over a quarter million fewer jobs than we originally thought. We also learned that unemployment has gone up.
It is disturbing to say, but the chickens are coming home to roost on Donald Trump’s destructive trade war, and the American people are paying the price.
You sow chaos, Donald Trump, you reap chaos. That's what the president is finding out this morning.
A quarter million fewer jobs is a significant revision and a flashing red light: Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs are already bleeding our economy of good-paying jobs.
In fact, aside from the pandemic, this jobs revision is the largest since at least 1979. That is what tariff whiplash looks like.
Businesses – small, large, medium – always need stability. But businesses are waving their arms around in the dark without a clue of what Donald Trump is going to do next, and we now have clear evidence that it’s stunting hiring and growth.
If Donald Trump’s tariffs have created this much trouble just four months after “Liberation Day,” imagine the trouble Americans will have eight months after “Liberation Day,” a year after “Liberation Day,” when the effects of tariffs go further and more deeply into the economy.
Remember, this jobs report comes one day after we learned inflation accelerated over the last month.
And it comes two days after we learned growth slowed down in the first half of this year, and that business investment is down 3%.
But what’s Donald Trump doing about all this?
As bad as his previous trade policies have been, today he is doubling down on his awful trade policies.
Last night, he imposed a slew of tariffs on 68 countries around the world, including some of our most important trading partners.
Again, if the effects of “Liberation Day” have been this bad just in four months, imagine the pain and harm Americans will feel 8 months and 12 months from now, with these new tariffs just imposed yesterday.
If this is what “Liberation Day” was supposed to look like, then God help us.
Hiring is down, prices are ticking up, families are paying more than $2,400 a year because of these tariffs. That’s a lot of money, even to families way into the middle class. And businesses have no clue what Donald Trump is doing next.
Worse, we still don't have any idea what Donald Trump has actually agreed to with partners like Japan, the European Union, and South Korea.
This administration and this president lie more than any other president we've seen. He just makes it up as he goes along and then changes and retracts.
Well, look at these supposed trade breakthroughs. Look at the pattern. Donald Trump hails the agreement as a major breakthrough, announces huge amounts of money coming to the U.S, and then the next day, the countries he made the deals with retract. They say that didn't happen.
He just makes it up. But Donald Trump, you pay the price for making it up. Because businesses don't know what you're doing. So, they cut back. Business investment was down 3% in the last quarter.
Before Donald Trump was president, these countries had tariffs in the 1% to 2% range, and now its 15%. You know what that is? That’s a tax hike, a price hike on American families.
Asking Americans to bear the brunt of 15% tariffs is no sane person’s definition of victory. Instead of cutting off five of your fingers, we're only cutting off three! Don't you want to congratulate us? That is the kind of thing Donald Trump says.
And we have no clue what America is actually getting in return. In fact, we don’t even know what these deals are because Trump lies about them. There’s a pattern here, as I said: one day Donald Trump comes out bragging that his so-called “deals” are somehow major victories, but then the next day reality sets in and it’s abundantly clear, when you look at the details, that he lied, exaggerated, and hyped what was in the deals.
So, one day he said that Japan is going to invest $500 billion in the United States. You know what Japan says the next day? It's at most 2% of the $500 billion.
How does this guy get away with it? But he doesn't get away with it because the chaos he creates – the mistrust he creates – hurts business and hurts the country. So, we want to know.
The administration refuses to be transparent, refuses to provide the details, and that is very bad for the American people and for the economy.
So today, my colleagues and I are urging transparency from the administration.
We are writing to Secretary Bessent, Secretary Lutnick, and Ambassador Greer to immediately come clean with answers to a number of important questions about Donald Trump’s trade deal.
First of all, how are any of these deals going to be actually verified and enforced? How do we know these investments Donald Trump has bragged about are going to take place? Because it seems the countries who make the deals have a different story than what Trump tells.
Second, what system or mechanism exists to track any of this information? What industries will see benefit? What kinds of investments are we talking about? Have they thought these things through, or does this just pop up in Donald Trump's head and then come out of his mouth?
Finally, and especially crucially, how do we know that these investments – if they even happen – are going to benefit the public, and not just benefit the businesses and industries owned by Donald Trump and his friends?
We have seen over and over again that what they do in the White House doesn't benefit the American people, but benefits the people who work in the White House, their cronies, and Donald Trump himself, who is gaining millions and millions of dollars from his presidency by taking advantage of the laws they passed.
No other president would do it. Ronald Reagan would turn over in his grave if he saw what Donald Trump is doing to benefit himself as president. And it causes Americans to just lose faith in democracy.
So, it's been four months since Donald Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day,” and by now we have enough evidence to show these chaotic tariffs are inflicting real damage to the economy. We’d be foolish to think doubling down is somehow going to make things better, but that's what Trump did yesterday.
Donald Trump needs to reverse course, because the only deal he’s actually struck is a raw deal for American families.
The only deal Donald Trump has struck is a raw deal for American families, consumers, and businesses. Today's jobs report is the latest warning sign that this tariff chaos must end.
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