Senate Finance Committee Wants to Talk Trade, Tariffs

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Thursday regarding the Trump Administration’s trade policy. The Hagstrom Report said that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will be the lone witness at the proceedings.  The committee chair, Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, has been critical of President Donald Trump’s announced trade tariffs.

Hatch said in a news release, “After the biggest tax rewrite in more than three decades, it is essential that the president’s trade agenda builds on the pro-growth, pro-jobs success.”

Hatch said he and Trump both share the same goal of making trade work for all Americans.  The best way to do that, Hatch said, is by pursuing new trade deals that will open up new markets for American goods and services, boosting access to new customers.

Hatch added, “I have made it clear that tariffs are nothing but a tax on American businesses and consumers and I look forward to discussing with Ambassador Lighthizer how the administration can mitigate the damage they cause. Committee members will also have the opportunity to ask the ambassador more about how the administration would use an extension of bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority, which it requested in its Trade Policy Agenda.”

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