We Need a Trade Policy That Works for People

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

As someone who strongly opposed disastrous unfettered free trade deals with China, Mexico and other low-wage countries, I understand that we need trade policies that benefit American workers, not just large corporations. Targeted tariffs can be a powerful tool to stop corporations from outsourcing American jobs. They can help level the playing field for American autoworkers or steelworkers to compete fairly against companies who have moved production to countries where they can pay starvation wages.

But Trump’s chaotic across-the-board tariffs are not the way to do it.

Imposing steep tariffs on countries like Germany or France will not bring jobs back to America. These are not low-wage countries. Corporations are not shutting down plants in America and moving them to Switzerland. Trump’s blanket tariffs will just raise prices for American consumers and hurt our relationships with allies, undermining our global position.

Trump’s trade chaos – changing policy from day to day – is rapidly undermining our economy and making it impossible for households and small businesses to function. How can you plan for next week, let alone next year, when the rules might change tomorrow? People in my home state of Vermont are hurting.

This is exactly why the Constitution gives Congress sole authority to raise taxes and “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,” not the President. What Trump is doing is unconstitutional. Trump has claimed supposed “emergency” powers to bypass Congress and impose unilateral tariffs on hundreds of countries. The last president to try something like this was Richard Nixon, and his overreach prompted Congress to pass the law Trump is now abusing. This is another step toward authoritarianism.

And let’s be clear about why Trump is doing all this: to give massive tax breaks to billionaires. These tariffs will cost working families thousands of dollars a year, and Trump plans to use that revenue to help pay for a huge tax break for the richest people in America. That is what Trump and Republicans in Congress are working on right now: If they have their way on the tariffs and their huge tax bill, most Americans will see their taxes go up, while those on top will get a huge tax break.

Enough is enough. We need a coherent trade policy that puts working people first.