A congressman CLEARED the United States Trade Representative over Trump’s tariff tyranny and you’ve gotta see the annihilation in action.
Source: Leigh Vogel
On Wednesday, we reported that President Donald Trump dropped tariffs to 10% on imports from most countries and announced a 90-day pause for the higher tariffs he strategically refers to as “reciprocal” tariffs, while he focuses his economy-eroding energy on China, which recently imposed a 125% tariff on the U.S. in retaliation.
Well, while all that was going on, another contentious rivalry was unfolding on the U.S. House floor as Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) made a stammering fool out of Ambassador Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, who was trying his best to defend—well—whatever it is y’all’s president thinks he’s doing with all the reckless tariff tyranny he has deployed on the world, turning the global economy into the kind of circus act that is truly reflective of our current presidential administration.
Greer had been testifying before the House Ways & Means Committee for over two hours when Trump announced he was lowering his sweeping global tariffs. Horsford was the first member to question Greer after Trump’s social media announcement and accused Trump of conducting policy without any kind of strategy and apparently without the input of his trade representative.
“Mr. Trade Representative, are you aware that the tariffs have been paused? When were you made aware of that?” Horsford asked to kick off the exchange.
Greer replied, “I understood the decision was made a few minutes ago.”
Horsford interjected, “Sitting here?”
Amb. Greer clarified, “Under discussion.”
“Sitting here under discussion. So did you know that this was under discussion? And why did you not include that as part of your opening remarks?” Horsford pressed.
Greer tried to explain, “So typically what I don’t do is divulge the contents of my discussions–”
“What are the details of the pause?” demanded Horsford.
“Well, my understanding is that because so many countries have decided not to retaliate, we’re going to have about 90 days,” Greer said as Horsford countered, “No, excuse me, China increased their tariffs on the United States. Trump blinked.”
Look, Horsford wasn’t being unreasonable here. All he did was inquire as to why the guy who is supposed to be the White House’s trade representative appeared to be unaware that Trump had announced a major update to his reckless and raggedy trade war strategy (mostly my words, not his) and if Greer was aware of it, why he stood behind the House podium and spoke about trade-related things without a single mention of it. It’s bad enough that Trump is treating tariffs like he’s a child with a new, shiny battery-operated toy that came without a manual, but it didn’t matter because Trump doesn’t need no stinking manual because, honestly, he just wants to break things anyway. But now it doesn’t even appear that Trump is consulting any of the people he has appointed to positions of power in his administration. It’s like he’s just making it all up as he goes along.
Anyway, despite Trump’s apparent erraticness, Greer took offense to Horsford’s suggestion that the president “blinked.”
“What’s the blink, sir?” Greer demanded.
“What do you know about this pause? What are the details of it?” Horsford inquired.
“Well, the details, as I understand it, is that China continues to retaliate. Other countries didn’t retaliate. The president, two or three days ago, said we wanted to negotiate with those countries that asked for…” Greer went on before Horsford interjected.
“What are the details? How long is the pause? How many weeks?” Horsford asked.
“I understand it’s 90 days. I haven’t spoken to the president since I’ve been in this room,” Greer responded.
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During the back and forth, Greer repeated the words “as I understand it” so many times one has to wonder if Trump has the nation’s top trade representative’s name saved in his phone, because clearly they don’t communicate much. Horsford, of course, had a field day with the display of administrative incompetence.
“So the trade representative hasn’t spoken to the president of the United States about a global reordering of trade—” Horsford added, as Greer insisted, “Yes, I have. I’ve just been in the hearing with you.”
“But, yet he announced it on a tweet. WTF? Who’s in charge?” Horsford demanded.
“The president of the United States is in charge,” Greer shot back.
“And what do you know about those details?” Horsford pressed again.
“Well, as I mentioned—” Greer said as Horsford interjected, “It looks like your boss just pulled the rug out from under you and paused the tariffs, the taxes on the American people. There’s no strategy. You just found out three seconds ago, sitting here, we saw you.”
Greer insisted, “We’ve been discussing.”
“If you came here knowing that they were going to be turned off, that these tariffs were going to turn off, why didn’t you include that in your opening statement? Why didn’t you reference that as part of your testimony?” Horsford hit back.
Greer maintained, “Well, I don’t disclose my conversations with the president, sir.”
Horsford fumed in reply, “These were specific questions we asked you all along. What’s the strategy? These are real consequences for the American people and small businesses. I had a group of small businesses in my office earlier today talking about the impacts of these tariffs on aluminum and steel. This is amateur hour! And it needs to stop. What does this even mean for your negotiating strategy? How are you in charge of negotiation if the president is tweeting about this from wherever the Hell he is?”
“The president was elected and he runs the trade policy and I advise him and execute his—who executes the trade policy, I execute the—” Greer replied as Horsford again demanded, “Did you know that this was happening?”
“This is amateur hour!” was Horsford being far too kind, honestly. Greer struggled to come up with any on-the-spot answer that even came close to making sense as Horsford kept hammering away at him, accusing the president of acting with “no strategy” and “no plan” and “take actions that he didn’t even have the authority to take, which he said “put our economy in disarray and near collapse.” He also accused Trump of “market manipulation,” which Greer denied, prompting his opponent to ask, “Well then, what is it?” and not that “it sure is not strategy.”
Then, Greer finally gave an answer that was, at the very least, clear and concise, albeit still vague and laden with allegations presented without evidence.
“What has that done? How have you achieved any of that?” he asked. “But to enact enormous harm on the American people, which was our concern from the very beginning. Tariffs are a tool. It can be used in the appropriate way to protect U.S. jobs and small businesses, but that’s not what this does. If it’s not market manipulation, what is it? Who’s benefiting? What billionaire just got richer?”
Horsford continued to not receive any real answers to his line of questioning, and after the session, he took to X to continue accusing the administration of engaging in market manipulation, including the dubious stock trading of “members of Congress.”
“We’re trying to reset the global trade system that’s offshored all of our factories,” Greer said.
Horsford remained unsatisfied.
“What has that done? How have you achieved any of that?” he asked. “But to enact enormous harm on the American people, which was our concern from the very beginning. Tariffs are a tool. It can be used in the appropriate way to protect U.S. jobs and small businesses, but that’s not what this does. If it’s not market manipulation, what is it? Who’s benefiting? What billionaire just got richer?”
Horsford continued to not receive any real answers to his line of questioning, and after the session, he took to X to continue accusing the administration of engaging in market manipulation, including the dubious stock trading of “members of Congress.”
