Political Quotes

“I don't see any others here. I will just discuss this a little bit more. When Mr. Damico, who has been involved in world trade competition for years, said we are enabling mercantilism, what he is saying is that our trading partners have a goal that we don't seem to have, and that is to maximize their exports and minimize their imports. They want access to the U.S. market. They have a mercantilist philosophy, and that is what it is, really. That philosophy allows them to put up nontrade barriers, nontariff barriers, to use currency manipulation and other tactics to make it difficult for the United States to penetrate their market. They say they have signed a trade agreement, and they will agree on tariffs, for example, but they still, on net, don't open their market as effectively as we open our markets. That is the reality. As a result, we have had a continual decline in manufacturing. We have seen a surge in our trade deficits. March was the highest trade deficit in almost a decade. The whole first quarter was horrible. Our trade deficits are increasing. If this agreement is passed, will it increase or decrease our trade deficits? Isn't that a fair question to ask? Will it increase or decrease our trade deficits? They will not answer. Unfortunately, the answer is it is going to increase our trade deficits. We know that. If it were not true, they would be hollering about how it is going to greatly reduce our trade deficits.…”