During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spoke about the effect of President Trump's tariffs on America's allies.
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00:00Senator Shaheen. Thank you. Welcome to all of our nominees this morning and to your
00:07family and friends who are here with you. Ms. Hooker, I want to follow up on that a little bit
00:12because I appreciated your comment about the importance of allies and partners in your opening
00:18statement. However, you inferred that tariffs, we can get past the tariff issue and address the concerns
00:33of our allies and partners. And yet, as we think about the trilateral relationship, what we've seen
00:39since the announcement of the tariffs just this past week is that Japan and South Korea are meeting
00:46with China because they're so concerned about our tariffs. So how do we address that kind of
00:52concern? Because what's happening is it's pushing our allies toward China instead of away from them.
00:59Thank you, Senator. And I also want to thank your staff for meeting with me this week and spending
01:05some time sharing with me about your concerns. I appreciate that and I look forward to working
01:09with the committee and working with your team on these issues going forward. Senator, as the
01:15President and the Secretary have said, tariffs are just one tool in our economic and our trade toolbox.
01:23But they are aimed at making our trade more reciprocal, not only with partners, but also with allies.
01:30No, I understand what the talking points are, Ms. Hooker, and I don't want to interrupt you, but
01:35when we see our allies moving toward China very directly, what's our best response to address that?
01:43Thank you, Senator, for that question and the follow-up. What I'd like to point out is that
01:50actually Japan will be entering into negotiations with the United States as a result of these tariffs.
01:57They are bringing Japan to us and this will be a tool that will even out trade and make the United
02:04States more prosperous as a result. Well, maybe I'm not being clear. What I'm really asking is when we see
02:09that kind of direction happening, what do we do? What would you do? Would you call our contacts,
02:15your contacts in Japan and South Korea and try and reassure them about the ability to negotiate or
02:22mediate some sort of an agreement? It seems to me that when we see that kind of action,
02:28it demands a response from our officials in the government. But to go on to another topic,
02:35I also appreciated your talking about strengthening the diplomatic workforce in your opening statement
02:43and the importance of attracting the best and brightest people to the Department of State.
02:47I agree with that. What I'm concerned about is that what we've already seen since the new
02:52administration took over is a great deal of uncertainty about what's going to happen at the
02:59State Department. We already know that all of the personnel, virtually all of the personnel,
03:04over 10,000 people at USAID have been fired and that that bureau has been eliminated that provides
03:14important foreign assistance throughout the world. So how do we attract the best and the brightest
03:20when there's that kind of uncertainty around what's happening at the State Department?
03:24Thank you, Senator, for that question. It's my view that the President and the Secretary of State
03:31are taking a very close look at how we manage workforce going forward and how we streamline
03:36government and how we streamline our budget and I support that. I'm not privy to the conversations
03:42internally on how those decisions are being made, but if confirmed, I look forward to returning and speaking
03:49to you about this if you have further questions. Thank you. I would hope that you would because I think it's going to be hard to attract the people that we're going to need when there's so much uncertainty.
03:53about what's happening within the Department. Mr. DiNano, you talked about the importance of addressing our nuclear stockpiles and I know that President Trump has publicly said that he wants to see if we can denuclearize
04:09and express support for launching nuclear talks with China and Russia. In 2022, you wrote an article that called the Biden administration's arms control policy diluted for pursuing nuclear arms control with Russia and China.
04:37So, given that, do you have reservations about the President's objective or is it just because he's the President who's nominated you, who shares your political philosophy that now you feel like that's an appropriate path to move down?
04:57Thank you for the question, Senator. I differ from the prior administration's UN arms control. This administration,
05:07would pursue arms control that is enforceable and verifiable. I think that article I was referring to the extension of the new START treaty with no strings attached, no further negotiations.
05:19I think that was the wrong thing to do and we gave away our leverage. So, that's what I was referring to.
05:25Thank you for the clarification. Thank you, Mr.