Maria Cantwell Slams Trump: ‘Hard To Have An Exports Strategy When You’re In The Middle Of A Trade War’

3 days ago

During Thursday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Maria Cantwell questioned Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Nominee William Kimmit about President Trump's trade war.

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00:00$2.6 trillion of the $4.3 trillion is going to be a tax hike on people making less than $400,000.

00:09And another $700 billion will be a tax hike on our pass-through entities, think small businesses.

00:16So with that, we'll go on to Senator Catwell.

00:21Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:23Mr. Kimmett, you've been nominated to be the Undersecretor of Commerce for International Trade.

00:30I'm a big supporter of the United States having an aggressive export strategy.

00:37I think the state of Washington, you could say it might be our geography,

00:42but we just learned a long time ago that being exporters was a really, really important concept.

00:51So you'll be working with, well, the nominee, Jacob Helberg, at State,

00:58who would be in charge of economic growth and energy and environment.

01:02The two of you would be in charge of an export strategy for the United States.

01:09To me, it's hard to have an export strategy when you're in the middle of a trade war.

01:14I think the Obama administration had a goal of doubling exports in four years.

01:21They got, I think, about 80 percent there.

01:23I told them, just claim victory and double down for the next four years.

01:27So because that, to me, is one of the biggest GDP growth opportunities of the United States,

01:33when 95 percent of consumers live outside of the United States,

01:37focusing on exports as a big economic strategy,

01:42I think is just exactly what our nation should be doing, getting those markets open.

01:50So do you think that that is a good goal, to try to double exports in, say, a four-year, five-year period of time?

01:56And what would you do to make that strategy effective?

01:59Thank you for the question, Senator.

02:03Absolutely increasing exports to the maximum extent possible would be something I would be committed to working towards if confirmed.

02:12I think the global markets unit at ITA plays an extremely crucial role in this export promotion

02:20through the U.S. field with offices all over the country,

02:23helping small and medium-sized businesses promote exports abroad.

02:27The foreign commercial service in various markets throughout the world.

02:31So absolutely, I'm committed to working every day to promoting U.S. exports abroad

02:37and bringing market access to all industries.

02:41What about alliance building?

02:43I've also been a big supporter of what I call a tech-NATO.

02:47Why not just go get the biggest democracies and the biggest sophisticates in tech,

02:52like India and Japan and us, and basically just said, these are the rules of the road.

03:00I mean, this is who you should buy from, people who don't have a government backdoor,

03:04people who have these kind of technology solutions, and maybe even incent the rest of the world

03:10instead of us spending money tearing out Huawei behind the effect.

03:14Do you think that kind of alliance building would be a priority?

03:19Thank you for the question.

03:20I think certainly as countries come to work with us, the ones that have chosen to work with President Trump

03:28to fix global trade, certainly technology coordination with those countries is on the table

03:35and would be a vital goal of those discussions.

03:37And whether it's an alliance or on a bilateral basis, certainly creating tech arrangements with our trading partners.

03:46You said something.

03:47When countries come to work with us, I'm trying to get a sense of whether you believe in alliance building

03:52as a key strategy for countering other people, that the alliance building is a way to strengthen our hand.

04:02Do you agree with that?

04:03Yes, Senator, I agree with that.

04:06Working with, calling it an alliance or however it's termed, working with a group of countries

04:11that are aligned in efforts to resist the Chinese infiltration in the tech space, absolutely.

04:17Well, I'm saying a little, set the stage, and my guess is more countries will join us.

04:23What do you think the biggest region is that we should focus on now?

04:26Do you think the Chinese are having too much effect in South America

04:29and that we could work on something that would open more U.S. doors in South America, for example?

04:36I think every region of the world is important.

04:39I think South America certainly is important.

04:42I think looking at Southeast Asia in particular also with countries that move out of China

04:48but then move to local regional partners with China as sort of a backdoor into the United States

04:55is certainly something that I also think demands prompt attention.

05:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:06Senator Welch.

05:09Thank you very much.

Maria Cantwell Slams Trump: ‘Hard To Have An Exports Strategy When You’re In The Middle Of A Trade War’

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