Wyden: Oppose Price Hikes on Goods from Canada, Vote Down Trump Canada Tariffs
Watch a video of Wyden deliver his remarks here
As Prepared for Delivery
I rise to support my colleague Senator Kaine’s joint resolution to terminate Donald Trump’s order placing blanket tariffs on products Americans buy from Canada.
There has been a lot of double-talk about trade, so I want to make one thing clear: Tariffs are taxes on things we buy from other countries. The bottom line is those taxes make it more expensive for Americans to buy those products. No other country pays the tariffs. The consumer pays the tariff. If someone tells you they can do tariffs AND do it without raising prices - I’m sorry but anyone who says that with a straight face thinks that YOU are stupid.
Every credible economist, every automaker, every business on the record has said that Trump’s trade taxes will make things more expensive for Americans. Ronald Reagan’s favorite economist, Art Laffer, just released a study showing auto tariffs will raise car prices by $4,700. The Yale Budget Lab estimates the full Trump Tariff scheme will cost an average family thousands of dollars a year.
It’s one thing if tariffs are imposed with a good strategy - decreasing sales in the US by raising prices to punish countries that cheat on trade and changing their behavior so U.S. workers get a fair shake. I’ve supported targeted tariffs in the past as a tool to fight back against trade cheating, especially by China. When China was stealing American trade secrets, subsidizing cheap solar panels, and then dumping them here to drive U.S. manufacturers out of business, I was shouting from the rooftops for more tariffs on Chinese goods.
But, colleagues, Canada is not China. Canada is America’s closest ally, not a rival. Making everything Americans buy from Canada more expensive for some bogus reason is, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, “the dumbest trade war in history.”
There are 8 million American jobs that depend on trade with Canada. Canada is the biggest export market for 32 American states. It provides raw materials and supplies like potash that farmers NEED to grow their crops. U.S. farmers can’t replace the 90 percent of potash that comes from Canada. Definitely not overnight. The only choice is higher prices, paid by Americans.
So the stuff we buy from Canada gets more expensive. And on top of that, in response, Canada has already slapped tariffs on a whole host of crops, ag products, dairy, alcohol, manufactured goods and more. Canadian grocery stores are pulling U.S. products off the shelves. Our small businesses and farmers are losing sales as we speak because of Trump’s weird obsession with attacking our northern neighbor. Plunging our economy into recession because of Trump’s desire to annex Canada is idiotic.
Congress has delegated far too much of its trade authority to the executive branch and it’s far past time for us to take it back. In 1962 and 1974 Congress passed laws handing the president major portions of our constitutional power over tariffs. It’s time to reverse that trend. If Republicans say it’s not their fault that Trump is destroying our economy, ask them why they won’t do a single thing to restore the power of Congress to set tariffs.
I’ll close by addressing Donald Trump’s bogus claim that the tariffs are actually intended to stop fentanyl trafficking from Canada. Let me be clear - our immigration system needs reform, and the fentanyl crisis is a serious issue – Oregon is no stranger to the devastating effects it has wreaked on our communities. But reality is, there is no crisis at the Northern Border. Less than 0.1% of fentanyl entering the United States comes from Canada. Fentanyl seizures at the Northern Border are down over 97% from July 2024. Everyone knows that Canada is not the issue here.
Instead of coming up with real solutions to get fentanyl off of the streets and out of our communities, Donald Trump has decided he would rather make threats and tariff our closest allies.
If Donald Trump and the Republicans really wanted to address fentanyl, they’d pass my bill to limit the millions of low-value packages that come into the U.S. from China and elsewhere. Getting a handle on these so-called “de minimis” imports will help our border agents detect the illicit imports of things like fentanyl and pill presses before they reach communities across the U.S. I ask unanimous consent to pass S. 1185, the FIGHTING for America Act.
I want to thank my colleague from Virginia for his leadership on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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