Tariff Strategy
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. President Trump suspended tariffs on Canada and Mexico earlier this week, saying the decision was to protect American farmers, but his threat of future tariffs is still on the table.
But North Carolina Senator Ted Budd reminds us, the tariffs President Trump imposed are mostly meant to reflect those our trading partners, like Canada, Mexico and China, have imposed on us …
BUDD … “We're just matching what other people have been doing to us for years, and hopefully we can it will remind these countries that we can move towards free trade or less tariffs, and let's start working them back down to zero, but this is a result of them treating us unfairly for years.”
Budd says the tariffs are a tool that President Trump is using as a means to an end …
BUDD … “I don't like tariffs. I would say, you know, from an economic perspective, probably President Trump doesn't even like tariffs. But if other countries for decades have been unfair to the US as far as receiving our exports into them, then we need to deal with that in kind.”
And as a result, Budd says the ball is in their court …
BUDD … “You want to take these down to zero, you want to not have tariffs, even you want to free trade. Will do that. You just need to lower your taxes. We will lower our tariffs as well, and we'll have free trade among us. And so I think that's where we ultimately need to go.”
Again, that is North Carolina Senator Ted Budd.
