During a town hall on Monday, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) spoke about President Trump's tariffs.
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00:00So, let's talk about the economy. Senator Reid, you talk about the stock market and what's happened.
00:07There's been tremendous swings since President Trump took office.
00:11Very turbulent economic news. There's tariffs that were threatened, tariffs implemented, tariffs withdrawn, and tariffs that are still looming.
00:18How do we feel about the U.S. economy now, and how do we feel about it in the near future?
00:23Well, first, let me assure you, I'm always short. I will be brief.
00:30But we are in a very dangerous situation, and what makes this unique is it's self-inflicted.
00:38It is the Trump policies that are doing more to undermine the economy than anything else.
00:44The tariffs are probably the principal engine to mess this all up.
00:52When we're putting tariffs on Canada, we should be thinking twice.
00:58Most of the energy in Northern England comes from Canada.
01:02Most of the oil that flows into the upper Midwest of Montana comes from Canada.
01:10We should be working with them, not against them. That's just one example.
01:14And if you go across the board and look, it's going to result in inflation.
01:20It already is.
01:21In fact, one of the reasons the Federal Reserve is unwilling at this point to lower interest rates is because their mission is to prevent inflation from exploding, and they're afraid of that right now.
01:39Then you've got the bond market in trouble, everything in trouble.
01:44But what we're going to see this, really, I'll close because I want to be brief.
01:48What we're going to see this with these tariffs go through, when you drive up to Dunkin' Donuts and say,
01:54I'll have a large cup of coffee and a little sugar.
01:57That'll be $20, please.
01:59Because that's what's going to happen.
02:01And it's going to upset all, not just consumers, but also manufacturing, every service we do.
02:09I had a chance to check in with the folks at Quartet Point, the importation port for vehicles.
02:16They expect that this is going to get very bad.
02:19They're going to have to start laying people off.
02:21They're going to have to, you know, take steps that they don't want to take steps because the price of cars has been arbitrarily raised because of the tariffs.
02:32So, you know, that's really, I think, what we have to get and push him back on that with our Republican colleagues.
02:42Everyone else?