Bernie Sanders Directly Confronts Trade Representative About Trump's 'Lie' To Justify Tariffs

4/8/2025

At today's Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) questioned U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer about President Trump's tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00Senator Sanders. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Greer, thanks for being here and I

00:04enjoyed our conversation in the office last month. Let me begin by saying, as I

00:10suspect you know, that I am not a great fan of unfettered free trade. I helped

00:15lead the effort when I was in the House against NAFTA and against permanent

00:20normal trade relations with China. I will never forget a visit that I made to the

00:25Macadillo area in Mexico where I saw brand-new factories and literally

00:32Mexican workers living in cardboard boxes and the result of course was the loss

00:39of hundreds of thousands of jobs, good-paying jobs in this country

00:43transferring them to Mexico where people work for horrendous wages. That is the

00:48type of trade policy which I detest. But I want to move to an area to talk about the

00:55legal basis of what President Trump has done. President Trump said, Mr. Greer,

01:01that he had no choice in terms of Canada and I live 50 miles away from the

01:06Canadian border. He had no choice but to bypass Congress and to impose an

01:11emergency 25% tariff on Canada to stop, quote, the massive, end quote, amount of

01:17fentanyl, end quote, the millions and millions of undocumented immigrants coming

01:22from the northern border. Unfortunately that's a lie. The truth is that the U.S.

01:28Customs and Border Protection reported just 43 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the

01:34Canadian border last year, representing just two-tenths of one percent of the

01:38total. Now we could agree that one pound of fentanyl is too much. But if two-tenths

01:43of one percent constitutes an emergency, my guess is illegal drugs are coming in

01:48for every country in the world. And that gives the President of the United States

01:51incredible power to determine tariffs. Further, he said among, he talked about

01:58millions and millions of undocumented immigrants coming from Canada. In fact,

02:03last year there were 24,000 people, not millions and millions. First question,

02:07really, we can argue about tariffs, but why does the President have to lie all of

02:13the time in order to make his point? So, Senator, I would just refute that when

02:19the President is talking about the nature of the emergency we have. I mean, this is very serious.

02:23Can you talk a little bit closer into the mic, please? Certainly. Senator, I would just say,

02:26you know, I think you need to look at what the President issued in terms of the

02:29order for the legal basis for what we're doing, right? I mean, the President very

02:33rightly hit on this issue of fentanyl migration coming from northern southern

02:37borders, and it's a real emergency. Drugs are a real emergency. Two-tenths of one

02:41percent, you can then argue drugs, illegal drugs, come from every country in the

02:46world. If you declare that as an emergency, you're giving the President of the

02:49United States unbelievable power. Let me go on that point. Let me mention to you

02:54what you probably know. Seven Republicans have joined a number of Democrats on

03:01legislation reasserting Congress's ability to play an active role in trade

03:08and tariffs. That, on the Republican side, was led by Senator Grassley. And he said,

03:15and I quote, for too long Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate

03:20interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch, etc., etc. He

03:27wants to reassert Congress's constitutional role and ensure Congress has a voice in

03:32trade policy, end of quote. In the last two weeks, all we have seen is reports in

03:39the newspaper. Congress has not had one ounce of authority in determining tariff

03:46policy. Do you think Congress should be completely left out of the process? What

03:51does the President have emergency power to do anything he wants with regard to

03:55tariffs? Senator, my staff has had over 200 meetings with congressional offices in the

03:59past two months to consult. The President has been very transparent about what he

04:02wants to do on tariffs. Congress delegated a lot to him to take this action.

04:06But, Mr. Greer, you can have all the meetings you want. You and I had a nice

04:09meeting. But, at the end of the day, the President did exactly what he wanted to do

04:14without any discussion, formal discussion, with members of Congress. He could make

04:20recommendations to Congress, that's for sure. Do you really think that he has the

04:24power, under an emergency degree, to reorder the trade world, global trade

04:30policy, without any input from the United States Congress? Sir, Congress gave him

04:35this law, where if he determines a national emergency, he can take appropriate

04:39action to regulate imports. That's what he's done. Do you think it's a national

04:42emergency that two-tenths of one percent of fentanyl coming from Canada

04:47constitutes a national emergency? Sir... Do you? The President has determined... Do you? I'm asking you.

04:53You're asking me about drug policy. So, I agree with the President. If you have China

04:57and Canada and Mexico putting drugs into this country at different levels, then

05:01that's an emergency. We have to deal with it. Look, we're not going to argue about the

05:04danger of drugs. Two-tenths, 43 pounds of fentanyl. On that basis, the President can

05:11declare an emergency with any country on earth and take unlimited power. That's

05:16called authoritarianism. Okay? That's not what a democracy does. Do you have any

05:22concerns about all of that power going into the hands of the President? Sir, Congress

05:27delegated this power to the President. He has to renew the emergency every year. He

05:30has to give reports to Congress. The Congress told him what he has to do to

05:34use this authority, and he's doing those things. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank

05:38you. We have... You've been...

Bernie Sanders Directly Confronts Trade Representative About Trump's 'Lie' To Justify Tariffs

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