WASHINGTON – Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump's choice to be the top U.S. trade negotiator, promised to pursue the president's hardline trade policies in testimony Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee. But he faced pushback from senators unsettled by Trump's unpredictable actions on trade.
Trump's protectionist approach — involving the heavy use of taxes on foreign goods — will give Americans "the opportunity to work in good-paying jobs producing goods and services they can sell in this market and abroad to earn an honest living,'' Greer said in remarks prepared ahead of his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee.
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As U.S. trade representative, Greer would have responsibility — along with Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick — for one of Trump's top policy priorities: waging or at least threatening trade war with countries around the world, America's friends and foes alike.
Over the last week, Trump's approach to trade looked chaotic. On Saturday, he signed orders imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico — America's two biggest trading partners. Then on Monday, he turned around gave those countries a 30-day reprieve from the tariffs after their leaders made made modest concessions on stopping the flow of undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs into the United States.
“Trump governs by whim, and in trade that hurts American families,” said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the finance committee. "His tariff bluff created huge uncertainty that is costing American businesses and putting the global economy on a month-to-month lease.''
Trump believes that imposing tariffs — import taxes — on U.S. trade partners can reduce America's massive trade deficits, protect U.S. industry from competition, bring manufacturing back to the United States and pressure other countries onto making concessions on a variety of issues, including reducing illegal immigration and cracking down on drug trafficking.
The hostilities have already begun. On Tuesday, the United States slapped 10% tariff on Chinese imports on top of levies he'd imposed in his first term. Beijing promptly lashed back, announcing tariffs on U.S. coal, crude oil and other products, restricting exports of critical minerals and launching an antitrust investigation in Google. But the Chinese tariffs don't take effect until next Monday, buying time for the two countries to reach some kind of truce.
That is what happened earlier this week. Trump had signed an order Saturday hitting imports from America's two biggest trade partners, Canada and Mexico, with 25% tariffs. They were supposed to take effect Tuesday, too, but were called off — and delayed for 30 days — after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed Monday to do more to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl across the U.S. border.
Economists have warned that Trump's tariffs would disrupt trade and drive up prices for American consumers. Democrats and others have also criticized the impulsive and unpredictable way that Trump conducts trade policy and his decision to target America's neighbors and allies, not limiting his tariff onslaught to U.S. geopolitical rival China.
Wyden expressed concern about Trump's campaign promises to impose an across-the-board “universal'' tariff on imports as opposed to targeting China and other countries for unfair trade practices, or protecting workers in specific industries struggling with foreign competition. The universal tariffs, Wyden said, amount to a ”prescription for hitting our citizens, small businesses, really hard and also raising inflationary pressures.''
Greer responded that universal tariffs "should be studied'' as a way to possibly lower America's massive trade deficits.
Greer was a veteran of Trump's first-term trade battles, serving as chief of staff to then-U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer. In that position, Greer was involved in a U.S.-China trade brawl that saw the world's two biggest economies slap tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of each other's goods. He also played a role in Trump's contentious and successful campaign to rewrite a North American trade agreement with Mexico and Canada and to get Congress to approve the new pact.
That deal — the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — is up for renewal next year. At Wednesday's hearing, Greer said he would push to improve it — partly by making sure that countries outside North America (he didn't specifically say but undoubtedly meant China) don't take advantage of USMCA to get tariff-free access to the U.S. market. He also said he would seek to ensure that American farmers are getting the access they are entitled to the Mexican (for their corn) and Canadian (for dairy products) markets.
Greer, a graduate of the University of Virginia law school, served as a lawyer in the U.S. Air Force's Advocate General's Corps. After Trump's first term, Greer joined the Washington law firm King & Spalding, representing clients in cases before the Commerce Department, the International Trade Commission and federal courts.
The United States, for decades after World War II a champion of free trade, has turned protectionist. Trump's first-term China tariffs started the biggest trade war since the 1930 and reflected a growing bipartisan consensus: President Joe Biden kept most of Trump's import taxes during his four years in office and added some of his own.
The U.S. trade deficit has remained intractable throughout. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the gap between the goods and services the United States sells other countries and those it buys from them came in at $918.4 billion last year, up 17% from $784.9 billion in 2023.
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AP Writers Josh Boak and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this story.