Chairman Wyden Remarks on International Trade Commission Nominees
As Prepared for Delivery
This morning the Senate Finance Committee meets to consider three nominees to serve on the International Trade Commission: James Bernard Coughlan, of Illinois, and Halie L. Craig, of Pennsylvania.
There is one piece of Committee business I’d like to address before I get to these nominations. Today is Senator Kim’s first hearing since joining the Finance Committee. Senator Kim, welcome to the Finance Committee. I and all of your other colleagues here are glad to have you, and we’re looking forward to working with you.
The ITC has three important jobs in ensuring international trade is fair and benefits U.S. workers and businesses. First, the commission is charged with investigating foreign trade cheats and standing up for American industry when it’s been harmed. Second, it takes stock of how tariffs and other trade policies impact our economy. Finally, it maintains the list of products and tariff rates known as the “harmonized tariff schedule.”
To sum up: this commission does a lot of the hard work of enforcing and carrying out our nation’s trade rules. I look forward to hearing from our nominees today about how they will approach this important responsibility.
The Senate has a lot of business this morning, so I’ll wrap up with this. I suspect this committee will be talking quite a bit about trade for the coming year. My view is that this country needs to pull out all the stops to fight back against underhanded trade cheating by bad actors like China, and I’ll work with anyone who shares that goal.
But I also intend to be a voice of reason when it comes to slapping tariffs on everything that American families buy. Donald Trump’s tariffs would raise costs and be a disaster for families still reeling from inflation. I hope this committee can continue to work in a bipartisan way on real solutions rather than campaign slogans.
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