Senate Democratic leaders hold a press briefing after President Trump pauses all but China tariffs for 90 days.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Okay, thank you for coming.
00:19We were going to talk about the effect on people's IRAs in retirement, but the news
00:26that President Trump just made, we're going to do that.
00:29It's still an issue, but not today.
00:30We're going to talk about what he, what just happened.
00:33So number one, let's make it clear, let be clear, Donald Trump is feeling the heat from
00:41Democrats and across America about how bad these tariffs are.
00:48He is reeling, he is retreating, and that is a good thing.
00:53We are going to continue to put the heat on him because there are still many damaging,
00:58much damaging tariffs in place.
01:02And we're going to continue to put that heat on him because the 10 percent across the board
01:07is still in place.
01:10The China tariffs are still in place.
01:12So point number two, point number one, he's feeling the heat, tremendous heat.
01:18And that heat is not going to be, we're not going to let up, and the American people are
01:23not going to let up because this is doing such damage to people's pocketbooks.
01:30Second, there's still, he has not, it's a, it's a partial retreat by Trump, but there's
01:38still a lot of damage that's in place and will happen to American consumers, even given
01:43what Trump said.
01:44But third, this is chaos.
01:49This is government by chaos.
01:52He keeps changing things from day to day.
01:55His advisors are fighting among themselves, calling each other names.
02:00And you cannot run a country with such chaos, with such unpredictability, with such lack of
02:09understanding of what's going on in the world and the facts.
02:15When there's chaos, already damage is done, irretrievable damage is done because of the
02:21chaos.
02:23Number one, businesses are, have stopped planning what they're going to do in the future.
02:29Many businesses are just putting everything on hold.
02:32The desire to hire a new worker or train a new worker, the desire to build a new plant, the
02:37desire to try a new product, all on hold.
02:40Because nobody knows what the heck is going to happen next, given the chaos of this administration.
02:46Consumers, we've seen consumer confidence plummet.
02:50And the bottom line is that consumers are holding tight because they don't know what the heck is
02:56going to happen.
02:58So this is just, every day, the, it becomes worse and worse and worse in terms of the chaos,
03:08in terms of the unpredictability, and in terms of the logic.
03:13They keep changing their minds about what they're doing, why they're doing it, how they're doing
03:16it.
03:17And the only victim is the American public, American consumer, the American citizen, the American
03:24business.
03:26Who is next?
03:27Senator Gillibrand.
03:29Well, I couldn't agree more with Senator Schumer.
03:32The chaos and volatility in our economy is so destructive.
03:36President Trump may have paused these reciprocal tariffs, but he's maintained a 10 percent tariff
03:41on all of them.
03:44Businesses will now not invest in new projects or expand their, their workforce because they
03:49have no idea of what is coming next.
03:52A 90-day pause means they don't know what's going to happen at the end of the 90 days.
03:57A 10 percent tariff is still going to hurt our families.
04:01These tariffs and this trade war are absurd.
04:06They're going to increase costs for everyday goods from food to housing to anything you buy
04:12for your family or your children.
04:14It's going to fuel inflation.
04:16The cost of everything will continue to go up and it will slow our economic growth.
04:22It hurts families.
04:23It hurts children.
04:24It hurts our seniors.
04:26And I've heard from my constituents all across New York state.
04:29Because of this chaos, this incompetence, and this carelessness, he has wiped out trillions
04:37of dollars from the U.S. economy.
04:40The amount of loss of wealth alone from middle class families, from working families, from our
04:47small businesses is incalculable.
04:51The S&P 500 has continued to drop.
04:54It goes up.
04:56It goes down further.
04:57It goes down again.
04:58Again, chaos, incompetence, and carelessness.
05:02That is the hallmark of the Trump presidency.
05:05If these tariffs had actually grown into full fruition, it would have cost each American
05:10household at least $4,000.
05:12It would decimate over 700,000 American jobs and raise prices on everything from health care
05:18to child care to electronics to cars.
05:22It's a manufactured crisis.
05:24It's something that didn't need to happen.
05:26President Biden left in place a good functioning economy and a booming stock market.
05:32Now President Trump has pulled the rug out from all of that.
05:39I think we need to continue to work as hard as we can to bring people together.
05:43And I think this is the beginning of what we are doing here in the Senate.
05:46Senator Verona.
05:48Well, frankly, ever since he got elected, it's been one damn thing after another.
05:53So governing by executive order, most of them are illegal.
05:57There are over 100 lawsuits now to prevent him from doing all these things that he shouldn't
06:01even be doing.
06:02But the result of all this is chaos.
06:05And when we talk about chaos, it actually impacts real-life people.
06:09Maybe Trump and his billionaire buddies can withstand all of this chaos that they have put into our communities,
06:18into our country, but real-life people can't.
06:22I just had a chance to talk with some students from New Mexico, and they know that the president is trying to get rid of the U.S. Department of Education
06:33and what that would mean for their educational opportunities.
06:37And one of them asked me, what is the thing that bothers me the most about everything that's going on?
06:41And I said, we have a president who is doing all these things, causing great harm, and he doesn't care.
06:47He doesn't give a rip.
06:48We can stand here and talk about people's 401ks and RRAs tanking.
06:54We can throw out all the numbers, how much of these tariffs will cost a typical family.
07:01Do you think he cares?
07:03Because if he did, he wouldn't do it.
07:06He doesn't give a rip.
07:07See, that is the thing that has to sink in with the American people.
07:11This is like he's throwing the dice.
07:13It's a crapshoot to him.
07:15He thrives on the fear and chaos that he creates.
07:22Do we get it?
07:23He enjoys it.
07:26And he's going to keep doing it, folks.
07:28There are going to be more lawsuits, more chaos.
07:31This is what we're going to need to contend with, I guess, for the next three years.
07:36And we need to fight back, and part of what we need to fight back with is to let people know.
07:41People are coming to us, telling us their stories.
07:44And we just heard, by the way, food insecurity is on the rise in our country because these tariffs are causing prices to go up.
07:54In anticipation, people are raising prices.
07:57And we heard this morning from the head of the National Groceries Association.
08:03This is an organization that represents a lot of the smaller grocery stores.
08:09And he said that the tariffs are causing prices to go up.
08:14And how is that going to impact families?
08:17Trump and his buddies don't give a rip about all of this.
08:22But in real life, people are having a hard time.
08:25And if you are on a fixed income, you think that grocery prices going up is not going to increase your food insecurity.
08:32So all of this is happening, and the chaos continues.
08:36So what I say to all the groups who are coming to our offices is that we each have a responsibility to fight back against this cruel bully.
08:48That is what Trump is.
08:49He is a cruel bully.
08:51And I'm waiting for the Republicans to stand up to this cruel bully.
08:56Each one of us has a voice.
08:58We need to use it to stand up.
09:01The law firms, the universities that are supposed to be the exemplar of our democracy and all of that, everybody needs to stand up.
09:10Because Trump loves the fact that people bow to his cruelties.
09:15And we're fighting that.
09:17Thank you, Senator Hirono.
09:18Senator Kim.
09:21I had the chance to talk to some constituents back in New Jersey about their reaction to what has just happened,
09:26especially business owners, and they said two things to me.
09:28They said the damage has already been done and that uncertainty remains.
09:34And I think that that's really important to hit home.
09:36I mean, this is something where we've seen, as Senator Gillibrand mentioned, you know,
09:39trillions of dollars of damage when it comes to our economy.
09:43But also when it comes to these small businesses, because the uncertainty remains,
09:47because we don't know what's going to happen after the 90 days, we don't know what's going to happen next,
09:51just the fact that he's making just these major decisions on a whim.
09:56It's going to continue to affect the prices that small businesses in particular are going to be paying.
10:02Because they're saying just the prospect of additional tariffs down the road, whether it's 90 days or not,
10:07is going to keep their prices up.
10:09The last thing I'll say, like, as someone who's worked in national security before,
10:13you know, engaged a lot on U.S.-China challenges on this front,
10:17if Trump is continuing to try to keep the pressure on Trump, he's doing it in the wrong way.
10:22If we're trying to take on and think about economic tools when it comes to tariffs,
10:27the best way would have been to be able to do it in a multilateral way,
10:30to work alongside other countries to join us in an effort to take on an economy as strong as China.
10:36But what we see right now is that America right now, we're not a global leader, we're a global outlier.
10:41You know, we are causing so much of the damage in this way.
10:45And our allies and our partners who we've abandoned, or Trump has abandoned and gone after,
10:50you know, we're going to make it harder for us to be able to take the kind of efforts
10:54on the national and the global stage that is necessary.
10:57And you see very clearly right now that America first to Donald Trump,
11:01when it comes to foreign policy, means America alone.
11:04Look how alone we are right now in this moment.
11:07It is shameful.
11:08And it is something that, as myself, I've worked in national security.
11:11I've never seen this level of isolation of the United States as I do right now.
11:17And that is so damaging on so many different fronts.
11:20Thanks, Andy.
11:21So look, you can't undo the damage.
11:24The Trump slump is upon us now.
11:29And whatever he will try to do in the future does not undo the damage.
11:34This chaos seems to be just a game for Donald Trump.
11:38But it is really real, very real, for people's lives, people's livelihoods,
11:44people's retirements, people's income.
11:47Meanwhile, Trump seems to be playing a game of red light, green light.
11:52He's playing red light, green light with our economy.
11:55One day this, one day that.
11:56It is, I have never seen such a chaotic administration action
12:02when it comes to something so vital and that affects everybody, everywhere.
12:08It's just unprecedented how bad this administration is.
12:13And as I said, Trump's slump is upon us.
12:16And virtually nothing he can do can make the damage that's already been done go away.
12:22Yes.
12:23Senator Schumer, the administration argues that these massive tariffs that the tariffs
12:29that he announced, the amount of pause, that the 10% have brought many countries to the table
12:35to negotiate lower trade barriers and that there will be positive results from this going forward.
12:41How can you believe anything they say when they change their opinion from hour to hour,
12:46day to day, week to week?
12:48I don't have any faith in the fact that this has been thought out, planned out,
12:55and will lead to any good result at all.
12:58Yes.
12:59You made my right, if I'm wrong, but it seems like you're almost at a loss for words.
13:02I didn't know you mentioned chaos.
13:03Are you surprised at all by what Trump announced today?
13:06We know that Donald Trump doesn't think things through.
13:09We know that whatever hits him for the moment, he does.
13:12But on something so vital, like the whole economy of America,
13:18the amount of money people have in their pockets, in their livelihoods,
13:23on something as vital as this, yes, it leaves you agape at what he is doing
13:30and how much damage he is causing and how little he cares.
13:33He thinks it's a game.
13:35He almost thinks it's fun.
13:36Well, for 330 million Americans, this is not fun at all.
13:41Yes, ma'am.
13:42Senator Schumer, I have two questions for today's view as to the parent first.
13:49President Trump said in the role part in the last week that he was doing this
13:53because no other president has taken advantage of the reciprocity that he's waiting in.
14:00You've been in the Senate for much longer than President Trump has been the president.
14:07Do you think that there were missed opportunities from previous U.S. leaders in the way...
14:14Well, look, what previous leaders have done is nothing, whether you agree or disagree.
14:19It's not close.
14:20The damage that he has done here is just magnitudes worse than any other damage that's been done with tariffs,
14:30maybe since Smoot-Hawley.
14:32So it's incredible.
14:34Next.
14:35He's continuing with the tariffs on China and that strategy in order to try to, I don't know,
14:41create some kind of balancing area there.
14:42Do you agree with that strategy at all?
14:44Look, there needs to be, when you have a tariff strategy, it needs to be pinpointed and focused.
14:50What is the goal?
14:51Who are you going after?
14:52And how do you get the rest of the world to join us?
14:54What Trump has done is he has created a situation where the whole world's against us
15:01and everyone's furious at America and we're alone.
15:03The only way you can bring China to be fairer, and they are not,
15:11is by creating alliances and having the whole world focused on China
15:16instead of the whole world angry at America.
15:18Thank you, everybody.
15:20Thank you, everybody.