Political Quotes

“Prior to coming to Congress 2 years ago, I spent 15 years building manufacturing companies. I have been personally on the receiving end of bad trade policy and bad trade practices. So, in 2016, when President--then candidate, now President--Trump talked about making America great again by dealing with bad trade deals and bad trade practices, frankly, he energized me and many other people in my industry, in the manufacturing sector, and, indeed, all across the country because America has lived with bad consequences of bad trade deals. In fact, America has built its history on trade. Truly, economic liberty is as much a part of America's history as religious liberty and other forms of liberty. We were the world's largest trading country. We are a great trading power in every way you can measure it. We do have trade deficits with some countries, but we have to pay attention to the right metrics. So when we talk about bad trade practices and bad trade policies, we talk about, to use an analogy, watching basketball. Think how the sport would change if there were no fouls called and no one could shoot free throws. These are the kinds of things that happened with the WTO. Eventually, after, sometimes, years of filing a complaint, the WTO will adjudicate a subsidy practice by China on steel, for example, and then they will say: Hey, you have to stop.…”