♪♪ ♪♪ spark life. we are always looking. ♪♪ a front row seatemocracy. ♪♪ >> president trump's nominee service u.s. sector. in 2020 of the trump administration.

the committee will turn order. our statements. local ahead for your hearing. s. chair crapo: i congratulate you on your nomination. this is one of the earliest dates the finance committee has

helped a committee for the u.s. tr. your timely responses to questions from both sides of the aisle expedited the process. mr. greer is nominated by the president for an important job. our negotiator must report to congress, which means he reports to the finance committee. this week attention fell on president trump's executive orders to help secure our borders from illegal immigration and infantile smuggling. i strongly support securing wars and fighting fentanyl trafficking. the borders rely on emergency economic powers act and concerned drug policy and border security. the president, not the u.s. tr, invokes them.

the department of homeland security, not the u.s. tr is responsible for securing borders. i am securing briefings on these orders and customs and border protection will brief the committee on this matter today. what the president has done that is different is to bring tariffs into the discussion about border security. ustr is america's chief trade negotiator. any time the u.s. government is considering tariffs or something that implicates trade policy, he, the ustr, should be a part of those conversations and should report to us about those conversations and solicit our input. right now mr. greer is not in the government and pretty to discussions. confirming him will allow him to be a part of those conversations in to work with this committee. ensuring that congress fulfills

its constitutional responsibilities over international trade. when we look at whether jamison greer will be a good negotiator for trade interests and a partner to the committee, his experience and skill set indicate the answer is yes. he understands the ustr's policymaking since he served as chief of staff. he distinguished himself as an effective negotiator on the u.s. mexico canada agreement. it overwhelmingly passed congress. as many of my democratic colleagues know firsthand, he worked closely with them on their priorities for usmca. as anrequirements to report to congress promptly and thoroughly . we need an effective ustr now more than ever. frankly, our last ustr did not negotiate any agreements, and we

lost ground to foreign competitors. the biden administration walked away, even from his own limited initiatives, such as the indo pacific economic framework. rather than forge new rules to combat china's trade practices come of the prior administration turned its back on existing rules and positions, such as our intellectual property rights under the trips agreement and support for open data flows and nondiscrimination against technology companies. the biden administration also -- our existing trade agreements and failed to act against protectionist measures on agriculture and energy producers. finally, there was one other major he ustr failure during the last administration, failing to report to and consult with this committee. both sides of the aisle expressed serious concern about the last ustr's failure to consult with this committee and

her position that she did not need to improve the consultation with the committee or agency transparency with the public. we should not hold mr. greer responsible for those failings. mr. greer has been crystal clear that he will consult with this committee and respect congress's constitutional power over trade. i know some will disagree from time to time that our, but mr. greer has been committed to make the case before us rather than ignore us. if confirmed, i will hold him to that commitment. mr. greer, thank you for your willingness to appear. i look forward to working with you on how you plan our shared priorities. sen. wyden: this has always been an area we have tried to find common ground and it will be a challenge now but that has

always been the history of the finance committee. it may be something of a journalistic first, colleagues, that i would like to enter into the record 3 wall st journal opinion articles on the trade issue. one is entitled "the dumbest trade war in history." the second is called "pray for surrender in trump's dump trade war." the third article is entitled, "trump blinks on north american tariffs." america has had its first taste of trump's grandson trade policy this week. here, colleagues, are the receipts that demonstrate how much damage the flawed trade policies that we have seen thus far are doing.

they are hurting regular people and we saw the effects on wall street. i could go on. one of the central problems, and i find it sad to say this, is that donald trump has repeatedly lied to the american people about who is going to pay these tariffs. for a full year, you heard again and again and again it was going to be the foreigners in the foreigners were going to pick up the bill, and that's just wrong. that is just terrible economics, and that is not right to say that to working people and small businesses and others, because they are the ones who pick up the bills. no who could have seen these developments. thought it was coming because donald trump governed by it

women and in trade that hurts american families. the turf bluff created huge uncertainty that is costing american businesses and putting the global economy on what i would describe as a month-month lease in my top priority today is to figure out who in the trump administration is going to be in charge of trade and what they plan to do, and how this sort of bedlam is going to get straightened out and get help for american families. this weekend featured a bunch of fake promises, starting with the trump threats to slap huge blanket tariffs on products from canada, mexico and china. then he backed down after canada and mexico repackaged still border security promises into a new box, foreign leaders around the world were laughing at us,

and the president really got rolled. this brings us to the business before the committee today considering the nomination of jamison career to serve as u.s. trade representative. he and i met first when he worked with a attorney at several notable firms. harry appreciated the meeting had a couple of days ago and particularly your straightforward commitment to tell me what is going on with trade me i read it online or in some other publication. and i asked for that and i appreciate getting it because everyone of my colleagues will be asking me that. the committee can't function if it is kept in the dark as it was over the past week. i expect he will pick up the

phone and tell us when trade is on the agenda in this administration and when you speak to me you will be speaking to my colleagues. in our conversation, i was trying to figure out the trade chaos that occurred over the past weekend. i thought it was actually about trade. my constituents in oregon on thought it was about trade. but one out of three jobs in oregon depends on trade and what is going on. you told me the terror threats were not actually about trade at all but it was rather an issue of border security. so i am interested in exploring which is which. i didn't leave that conversation we had very confident that you would expect to be in the room when these kinds of trade decisions are being made. in this should concern every member on this side of the aisle.

what we say in oregon, this is all about value added jobs. you add value to it and ship it around the world because oregon products are very appealing around the world. you have to know who is making the case. the law says the ftr is in charge of trade. this administration so far the treasury secretary, homeland security the finance committee needs a ustr that doesn't pass the buck and speaks to the authority on the trade policy. i will close with this. i want to make sure that i get the nominee views when it comes to using tariffs to settle scores that don't have anything to do with trade. for example, not has use the economic powers act to impose tariffs before donald trump. it is my view that is an abuse

of the law in a number of us have introduced legislation to reign it in. the ustr if they have no role, i'm not sure what their job is. the international trade policy is just too important to american families, workers, small businesses, manufacturers and farmers and weak sacrifice to make headlines on unrelated issues. will not have a full-scale scrum with respect to potatoes in oregon and idaho because we love them both and we know or a gun' is our superior, and we need to sell these products in foreign markets. that is not about going back and forth over whose products are better. it is my hope the committee will spend more time and making it easier to sell made in the usa products in less time figuring out why this administration is putting, as we saw last weekend, americans' livelihoods at risk.

mr. greer, i don't envy your position. we have talked about trade and i don't envy your challenge because based on last week, it is unclear how these decisions are going to be made and what the influence is going to be a mr. greer and what senator hagerty, who has a long time interest in this, will be doing as well. this is an opportunity for you all to make a case for how you are going to pass trade measures that are really going to make sense to the american people at a crucial time. mr. greer: -- chair crapo: we are honored to have senator hagerty here to introduce jamison greer. you may proceed. sen. hagerty: thank you, it is privileged to be here and a privilege to introduce my friend, jamison greer, the nominee for trade representative. trade policy is a cornerstone of

president trump's economic plan for america. the president would only select a man he deeply trusts. and thus i believe the nomination speaks volumes of the character of this nominee will be testifying before the committee today. he is no stranger to the complexities of global trade. he previously served as chief of staff to the u.s. trade representative ambassador robert lighthizer. during his service at ustr, he participated in virtually every major trade action initiated by the administration. he worked closely with senior officials in agencies and was deeply involved in negotiations in the phase one trade deal with china and the you united states mexico canada agreement. i had the pleasure of working with jamison and ambassador lighthizer for key trade with the united states and japan where jamison proved himself capable of representing america's interest on the global

stage and mr. greer was in the room at every critical term as we negotiated on america's behalf. during the president trumps first term, we witnessed a strong trade policies and economic growth go hand in hand. tariffs were leveraged to advance and hold adversaries accountable and bolster national security while americans enjoy low inflation and prosperity. jamison understands this better than anyone and i know he will bring that knowledge and experience to this rule. jamison's approach is guided to commit me to fear and reciprocal trade. he understands the united states is the world's largest market and foreign access to this market should not be taken for granted. he is contestant lee fought for the interest of key u.s. industries on the world stage. as an officer in the jag core, he advised on legal matters for u.s. airmen, public service as

it is dna. i have great confidence in his capability and capacity to defend and rebuild industries in his resolve to stand up for the working men and women of our nation. president trump is on a mission to usher in america's economic golden age and needs a capable team to get the job done. jamison has answered the call of duty before, and i think him for answering the call once again. he is the right man for this job. i look forward to his testimony and working with my colleagues to quickly advance mr. greer's nomination. thank you. chair crapo: thank you senator hagerty. we appreciate you joining us. as is our custom, you can be excused if you need to get on with your schedule, and we will proceed. mr. greer, before we have you

begin with your opening statement, i have four questions which we ask all nominees before this committee. is there anything that you are aware of in your background that might present a conflict of interest with the duties of the office to which you mr. greer: have been nominated? mr. greer:no. chair crapo: do you know of any reason personal or otherwise that would in any way prevent you from fully and honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to which you have been nominated? mr. greer: no. chair crapo: do you agree without reservation to respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of congress if you are confirmed? mr. greer: yes. chair crapo: do you commit to provide a prompt response in writing to any questions addressed to you by any senator of this committee? mr. greer: yes, i do. chair crapo: with that, you're welcome for your opening statement. mr. greer: thank you chairman crapo, ranking member wyden and members of the committee, thank you for taking the time for the

hearing. it is an honor to be before the committee. i am very grateful to the committee staff for their hard work during this process. it has been a very busy nomination season and i know it couldn't happen without the staff, so thank you good i am grateful to president the -- for nominating me. it was historic and bipartisan with reorienting trade policy. if i'm confirmed i look forward to continuing that work for the president and the american people in close consultation with the committee and the rest of congress. i also want to express my appreciation to my family, some of whom are here today. i'm grateful to my parents my siblings and my extended family. i am thankful for my wife marlo and our five children. through various trends in public service, they have also sacrificed quite a bit, including during my military training and deployments to iraq and prior white house service. i would be remiss not to

acknowledge bob lighthizer who has been the trade representative and my friend and gave me my first job in washington out of the military and brought me into the first top administration to be as chief of staff. when he asked me to do that he said what is it? he said it'll be fine and just come. it was fine and it was wonderful. i would be prepared without him and many dollars colleagues who have taught me over the years and i am thankful to senator hagerty for his kind introduction. working with him when he was the investors who japan was the highlight of my life, and he was exactly what an investor should be in representing our country's interest in building right -- relationships with trade partners. i am an honorary constituent. the town where my ancestors were from his actually named trade, tennessee, so maybe it is destiny that i am here today. i'm grateful to be considered for this position and i look

forward to building on the historic work accomplished on president trump's first term, notably kept in place by the biden administration and even expanded upon. president biden cap president trump's terrace on china and increase them in vehicles, steel and semi conductors. the last administration embrace the united states mexico canada agreement negotiated by president trump which has driven massive investment in the auto industry in the united states and north america generally appeared to this day i hear from cattle ranchers and meet producers about how important it was to secure agricultural market access in japan as part of the united states-japan phase one trade agreement. at the time, president this is the type of growth we want in america and i strongly believe in active and pragmatic trade policy is critical to achieving this once again he stopped during my meetings on

capitol hill leading up to this hearing one senator asked me a simple but important western, why you want this position? there are many answers but two primary reasons it is my belief that america should be a country of producers we are more than just what we consume, americans should have the opportunity to work in good paying jobs producing goods and services they can sell in this market neand abroad. i grew up w in a loving family modest means in the mountains of north carolina. my parents regularly worked several jobs to help make ends and the children help some very mindful of the struggles americans face when cut out of the economic growth and trade plays roles in those concerns but i'm convinced american workers farmers and ranchers and service providers can compete with anyone else in the world in this market and beyond so long as they have a level playing field to do so. ensuring americans from all walks of life have dignified

work as producers and builders is critical for economic mobility and social confusion. if i'm confirmed to this position i would develop implement trade policies that incentivize good paying jobs for american workers and allow them to support their families and communities. it is critical for our economic and national security that are supply chains are resilient we need resilience and strategic goods and services agricultural and food supply chain and technology we continue to live in a period of global volatility unrest and conflict as foreign adversaries invade other countries build a nuclear arsenal and seek to overtake america's technological edge of the united states does not have a robust manufacturing-based economy it will have little in the way of hard power to the tear conflict and protect american. i am convinced that we have a relatively short window of time to restructure the international trade system to better serve u.s. and trust fortunate enough to be confirmed to the position i intend to work closely with

this committee and the rest of congress to execute present trade agenda together we can ensure that a national trade benefits american workers and families and promotes military economic and technological dominance over the short-term i look forward to our conversation today >> thank you very much mr. mr. greer. first in the agriculture zone, agriculture is important to many committee members and members of the senate as a whole. notwithstanding senator widens and my friendly discussion about potatoes regularly, idaho 24,000 farms and ranches produce 185 commodities and idaho leads the nation in potato ããbarley and hay production. and the third largest producer of milk and cheese. we have not opened up any new markets for farmers in the last four years. farmers are also concerned that they may become the target of retaliation if we use tariffs

to pressure other countries to change their ways. how will you support the interest of america's farmers and ranchers once confirmed and our nation's chief trade negotiator. >> thank you chairman for those questions. agriculture is near and dear to my heart i was raised in northern california, rice country, home and country, and very familiar with the northwest and mount west and the important agricultural crops that you have. they need to have markets commensurate with the competitiveness and to me that means we need to go day market access where things have been closed until now. for many decades we had a trading system where the united states open the market over and over again and others do not and india for example the average bound tariff is 39%. in turkey it's 39.8%.

these are markets where they need to open to the united states. >> let's move to digital trade. we lost ground during the last administration because we turn our back on digital trade rules. including promoting data flows combating forced technology transfer and promoting nondiscrimination. a number of jurisdictions including the european union and south korea toutilize the to advance measures that target u.s. technology companies with special requirements for taxes while exempting their domestic companies or even chinese companies. do you agree that ensuring u.s. methodological leadership means that we need to confront these types of measures? >> yes chairman, i strongly believe we need to do that. this is an area united states is very competitive. i understand we are having a domestic conversation about how to regulate digital trade and technology companies and in my

view is that's where the conversation should be happening we should not be outsourcing our regulation to the european union or brazil or anyone else and they can't discriminate against us and it won't be tolerated. >> thank you i appreciate that perspective. next, the law states that the ustr reports directly to the president and congress. though my colleagues and i may disagree on policy occasionally, we are united in defending this committee's jurisdiction. if deconfirmed, do you commit t provide timely and thorough briefings on trade negotiations and to share proposals with this committee in advance of sharing them with foreign governments. >> we certainly expect to follow the law to the t with respect to consultations with congress. i agree with you exactly that statute directs me to report directly to dethe president and you and all these requirements

including before we approach foreign governments with offers we need to come to you and talk about it so we can be on the same page.>> will you also keep us apprised and consider your input with our input with respect to ustr led investigations and reports in the january um20 america first trade policy memorandum? >> yes. >> with regard to trade reporting on trade barriers, by law the ustr is required to issue an annual report called the national trade estimate that identifies foreign barriers of us exports of goods and fservices the last administration decided it would not list a barrier if the administration agreed with the foreign governments ideology for enacting the barrier in the first place. if confirmed, this year's national trade estimate may be one of the very first things you review.

do you agree the ustr report should as statutorily required to identify the full range of discriminatory barriers to us trade regardless of what agenda or excuse our training partners might offer. >> i agree with that chairman. >> thank you very much. senator whiteman. >> let's talk first about the president's campaign pledges to lower prices. for example, two weeks in eggs are nearly 9 ollars the trump

approach is to apply universal across the board tariffs. i thought i would start by asking you, can you give us an example that others in smoot-hawley in the country's history where there was universal tariff hikes and where somehow the country benefited aware of the examples that you cite for this trump approach in american history.

>> is indeed instructed to think about our history with respect to trade policy as many on this committee likely realized until about 1913 the united states government was entirely funded almost entirely funded from tariff revenues including during the latter part of the 19th century when america truly was exploding as an international industrial powerhouse. we had a relatively high tariff rate at the same time we saw countries like the united kingdom lowering their tariff rates and actually falling out of the industrial competitiveness i would say you have instances in the past where when we've seen what happens when the reverse happens. only gave china permanent market access. >> what i'm asking about is an example for the idea is that the president has made number one on the trade policy list. universal tariffs.

like a toolbox and prepared to put a tariff in there and there are instances where it's valuable but i'd like to see some kind of load start that shows why we got to go in the direction the president is going because i haven't 㦠>> when you look at the trade policy memo the administration released they have a part about fair and balanced trade and they discuss what you mentioned which is the possibility of universal tariffs, it's talked about in the context of our trade deficit, which whis over trillion. and how large of a trade deficit do we want? the trade deficit represents in large part manufacturing jobs ã ãand other things like that. >> i will hold the record open i've asked three times for an example of where there was history that the president's approach across the board tariff approach targeted one

made sense we will keep the record open. let the record know i asked three times eeand there were no examples. when he gave you a question with respect to making more medicine. we can hold down the cost of medicine create more choices, have groundbreaking therapies and i'm concerned about the tariff approach that i see emerging from the administration that could make it harder to make more medicine in the united states. something that's clearly a bipartisan hold. senator crapo and i have been toiling away on bipartisan's administration that could help mitigate drug shortage. what's the plan to protect patients from the damages the tariffs are going to cause as we try to get the drug supply chains right, create more medicine in the united states make our country safer and more secure as a result. >> i agree with you we need to

re-show a lot of supply chains from the pharmaceutical and a way that's affordable. my expectation is that the trump administration is also simultaneously with robust trade policy and fomenting tax policy energy policy regulatory policy, have the policies that led to incredible economic growth in the first trump term and we also had very strong trade policy that includes tariffs. >> a lot to do in terms of getting a leader in medicine and i don't think your tariffs are going to get us there. >> senator bennett. >> thank you mr. chairman and ranking member for raising the issue. i think it's a very important one. mr. greer, thank you for being here and i hawant to thank you and welcome your family as well. they are a lot better dressed than my family would be if they were here. i want to ask you a question in

your opening statement and i have two questions, please don't let buster the answer to this one because it would be easy to fill the time because i know you believe in it. at the very end he wrote i'm convinced we have a relatively short window of time to restructure the international trading system to better serve u.s. interest could you elaborate on that a little bit? >> i will and i will try to be succinct. we are in a position in the past several decades we have had a default trade policy that was an indent to itself to liberalize united states trade policies in the hopes that other partners would do this. as we discussed, that results in a quite a bit of off shoring and concentrated losses in some of our industrial communities also transfer a lot of folks like and exporters. then we have bodies like the wto presumed to exercise

authority over trade laws and limit our ability to do that. going forward we need to restructure this we need to have a pragmatic trade policy where we are looking sometime sector by sector economy wide often not bilateral basis how can we have very competitive terms of trade between us and the rest of the world? how can we emphasize our area as competitiveness, technology, agricultural, and be able to take advantage of that in a very particular way as opposed to just having a default trade policy. >> i think also we had a good conversation when you came by the office which i appreciated, and i think you agree we can't tariff our way to prosperity that there are other policies that we need to preserve to pursue to drive american growth to protect our national security and we need to approach domestic international

politics in a strategic way, trade as part of that. we have other business to conduct around the world. and here also. so for me this includes supporting american manufacturing, pursuing trade policies at the same time we are doing that to serve the farmers and ranchers that you grew gup with hand the workers throughout our state. and reducing our dependence on china, which i think is something there is bipartisan support for here. i believe we can do that by investing in hethe western hemisphere, which has been ignored i think by administrations on both sides of the aisle. that's why senator cassie and i are leaving the americas act which i mentioned when we were meeting in my office this would bring critical supply chains back to our hemisphere, counter china's economic coercion of our neighbors which is going on as we speak. today, in our own hemisphere,

and create pathways to economic security and reduce illegal migration. in that context i would ask you if you are aware of the americas act thinking g about ways in which in our region we will be able to extend existing agreements or work with congress to deepen our cooperation and integration with our neighbors. this is something that people at home readily understand or ask question how can a country of 330 million people compete with india with 1.4 billion people, compete effectively with china, which was 1.3 billion people. we don't have the numbers we've got a lot of that going for us innovation commitment to the rule of law, lack of corruption, the most dynamic economy in the world we've got big problems income inequality and a lack of economical

billability. i think working in a strategic way with our neighbors s is one of the answers to that. i wonder if you could give me your views on that. >> i have reviewed the americas act and one thing of interest in the trade policy mentioned the need for us gr directive ustr to review our existing trade agreements to see if they can be improved in a way that improves trade for the united states. i think there's room for conversation on the types of issues you're talking about. we are always going to have international trade and we want to be strong and resilient and to be with countries that agree with us. i think there's s room to talk about how to take those actions and initiatives.>> thank you mr. chair.>> mr. greer, congratulations on your nomination. back i think during the clinton administration when china was

admitted to the wto, is that your recollection as well? >> the tail end of the clinton administration i think president bush signed. >> the premise about was that somehow china would become part of the international order. but the fact of the matter is, china sheets, china steals our intellectual property and they don't recognize a rules-based international order. do you know off the top your head what sort of tariffs china imposes on imports into their country? >> i do, senator, what comes to tariff rates they are overall applied tariff rate on average 7.5% on aggie product 614.5% but this does not capture the full extent of the nontraded barriers on regulatory hurdles they impose on our exports. >> they subsidize a lot of the

government owned enterprises, correct? >> that's exactly right and makes it very difficult for anyone teelse to compete and results in in norma's owner capacity that floods global markets and our own markets. it's something that's been a huge factor in the deindustrialization of the united states which we need to reverse. >> absolutely. i think president trump was the president who first raised this issue in a very dramatic way and i think he's acexactly righ. to insist upon reciprocity as a principal. do you agree reciprocity ought to be the basic principle that drives our trade policy?>> senator, i know you been a leader on this issue with respect to investments with china and he watched very closely so i appreciate your insights. i think with china reciprocity is one word we could use but i

also don't want to fall into a trap they say we have 0% tariff and other kind of barriers. i don't want that word to be misconstrued by the chinese or anybody else but i think we do have to have a balance relationship i think united states has always been willing to have a balanced relationship with china but there's chinese agency in this matter in the need to decide how open they want to be to us. >> your response reminds me of the conversation we had in my office, thank you for coming by to visit, i talked to you a little bit about something we were working on in the banking committees working on an outbound investment transparency law, we thought it was going to be added to the continuing resolution of the national defense authorization act but i'm hopeful we can tea this up in a bipartisan way so that as policymakers and a government we understand what financial investments are being

made by the united states and our friends and allies in china which are then being used by the chinese government because of the chinese military civilian infusion anything developed in the area of technology that has to be shared with the military and the chinese communist party. do you think it just makes sense that we should have transparency of investments being made in china that might fuel the modernization of the military in a way that's a threat to the peace and the end of pacific and beyond? >> i think having this kind of transparency is very important. in fact, i keep referring back to the trump administration policy memo entrce because it is so comprehensive look at such a clear direction on these and one of the things he talks about is looking at current efforts around outbound investment to foreign countries

of concern so i think consideration of this kind of control or data gathering i think it goes right along with exploring that. >> talk to me a little bit about the de minimis exception to duty free trade between countries. i know the executive order that president trump has signed is basically said we need to take a look at that. one of the issues i'm concerned about beyond just the trade issue the failure to inspect packages that come in to the united states via the u.s. postal service or some other carrier that contain sentinel or drug precursors, are you aware of this as a potential problem? >> yes. i'm aware of this. this is something where the trump administration signaled they want to look at this and

there are issues around the inspection and formal entry i think we need to be very careful this is not a loophole being used for tariff invasion, counterfeits, fentanyl and other drugs are simply to explode the trade deficit i think we need to take a close look at that. >> thank you mr. r greer. >> thank you senator grassley. you are up. we go by who is reready. >> thank you for visiting my office, and appreciate the conversation we had a couple weeks ago. now that you and mr. look nick have been nominees for several weeks i'd like to know how much authority do elyou have on trad matters relative to mr. look nick and other cabinet members. >> i also enjoyed meeting with

you in your office beforehand, sometime in honorary constituent my u.wife is from ukiah were, so thank you. with respect to trade authorities united states government, my statute is not a statute designates the office of the u.s. trade representative and chief trade negotiator. negotiating trade deals section 3 alignment enforcement authorities delegated to the united states trade representative. the sector of commerce has its own authorities. the treasury secretary has often sanctions through i need bob. i think what's important to understand about all of this the president himself is so focused on trade issues. it's been a key platform for decades. he expects all of his cabinet members advising on trade work.

>> i also fear this will keep us reliant upon chinese markets so we need to be looking around the world at other markets we need to balance our short-term profitability with long-term stability for a long time i voiced my own concerns about unfair trade practices by china and i hope you and president trumbo successful in holding china accountable on issues including fentanyl, intellectual property theft and government subsidization, that said, i believe we must pursue fewer trade with other countries to create new markets so that we can move away from china without losing even more

global market share to commodities to brazil and other countries that freed i think we need more free trade and i know president trump is more interested in bilateral agreements i think we look away from brazil and south korea and japan and china and the eu as being problem countries for us on trade issues but there are so many other countries.

with countries you don't even think much about being significant in world trade. we've increased tremendously with the free trade agreements our surpluses with those countries. >> everything you just said i think is really important to keep in mind as we move forward with trade policy. i think obtaining other export markets to make sure exporters farmers and ranchers and anyone else i'm not completely dependent on china for their livelihood because i can be a high risk bopposition but my gases we will always trade with china but we do have to have diverse export markets for our exporters and i think if we can be thoughtful and going to other countries where we see real concrete areas of

advancement we should pursue looking forward to working with you if i'm confirmed and the rest of the committee to talk about where we can get the most bang for our buck and other markets. any agreements we have are aligned with the our goals and administration's goals. >> one example is that brazil has displaced the united states as a world leader in soybean production another issue i brought up with your predecessor is drastically unfair advantage in brazil has on ethanol u.s. exports phase 18% tariff on ethanol going to brazil however, brazilian ethanol comes here nearly duty-free. i hope you will address this trade imbalance with brazil that ambassador tribe was time was successful in doing.

taking action to reduce or eliminate this inharmful tariff on america. >> if i'm confirmed i will work with you have a lot of faith at the top of my list that this is one of those things. i'm happy to work with you. >> mr. greer, congratulations on your nomination. welcome to your family, your son has been very patience, your whole family i understand the challenges during this long period. let me say first of all, thank you for meeting with me. i so appreciate the conversation. i want to talk about a topic that seems to get lost sometimes we talk about trade and tariffs and this topic is so important to nevada but also to the united states. which is tourism. it's the single largest export for the united states and my estate as you all know from nevada from reno to las vegas and all parts in between, we are reliant on a strong and vibrant international tourism

economy. the u.s. travel association has warned that 25% across the board tariffs on canada will result in fewer canadians visiting america causing $2.1 billion in lost spending and 4000 jobs lost. tariffs on mexico are likely to have a similar impact. my first question to you, do you view tourism as an important industry and you agree that trade wars with neighboring countries are likely to harm tourism? >> senator, thank you, thank you for your kind words. i also appreciate our meeting in your office, which i thought was insightful. with respect tourism, 100% export for the important export for the united states that's why we have tourism promotion agencies that another things like that. it's critical. particularly for your state with respect to tariffs on neighboring countries, i think

the chairman said it very well in the opening we talked about the action the president is talking about is about fentanyl where we don't want another single fentanyl death, one kilogram of fentanyl can kill some 50,000 people by calculation and we can't have that we need to come to an agreement on that and mexico and canada from the outside looking in obviously where a tariff is concerned i naturally have equity so i would want to be involved and meet the committee on those issues when they come to a front because i know it's important to you. >> let me talk about the practical impacts because various administration officials including secretary ã ãwhen he testified before this committee stated tthat broad tariffs will cause the currency to appreciate. let me just say as it appreciates and makes it more expensive to travel to the united states. that hasn't impact on travel and tourism.

i'm hoping that you are taking that into consideration. i don't know anybody in this room or any of my colleagues that doesn't want to fight the war on fentanyl it's impacting all of our communities and there is a way to go about it and i believe this war on fentanyl existed during the first administration of donald trump, and he did it take this action. there is a way to be smart about that that's not also continuing to harm our communities with job loss and billions of dollars of income coming in in the travel community. and i know the administration put a a pause a 30 day pause on the negotiation with canada and mexico but let me tell you about the practical impacts of that pause. i received a call from a reno small business yesterday that one of their customers in canada has canceled their project due to uncertainty. costing them tens of thousands of dollars. these are threats that are real impacting our small businesses

uncertainty and so my question to you is, what do i say to my businesses how do i ensure them that workers are knocking to be collateral damages the businesses small businesses are not going to be collateral damages when we are engaging in this type of trade were. >> they could come talk to us. i would also say if you look at the first trump administration where the president had a very robust use of tariffs and other trade measures and trade negotiations and agreement to create an economy that resulted in real median household incom going up by $7000 in three years it was a start. the president knows how to

shepherd the economy he knows how to balance these things and i think we need to stay the course when it comes to fentanyl and redoing trade policy. [multiple speakers] >> these businesses i just have to tell them it's just unfortunately you're gonna be a victim of the trade work, suck it up, it's better for the country, it's better for everyone else. so that the answer? i don't think so. you are a reasonable man and we had a great conversation. there is a lot being impacted from homebuilders to critical minerals central for the community, titanium sponge that's important for our national security that we don't actually get in the united states anymore. there's a lot of impact and i'm looking forward to working with you. but there's got to be common sense and there's got to be answers for so many businesses that are unfortunately the victims of this trade war and if the answer to them is we

just you have to be a victim we will shut your doors and we have to suck it up for the greater good, i'm not sure that's an answer i want to carry back to them but i look forward to working with you. >> thank you senator. >> senator langford, are you ready. >> you bet. chairman, thank you. mr. greer, thanks for stepping into the fray on this. there's a lot to be done, as you can see, the last four years there's been very little done in this committee on the bipartisan basis has been incredibly frustrated. with the lack of a phone call coming in to say how are we cooperating together to figure out how to do trade policy and how to do the next place as you heard several of my colleagues already, a lot of us have egg producers that have a great product the whole world wants to buy and ustr isn't helping to find new markets to do that we are counting on you to be able to do that if you can't do that we can ask your scientists up in and take over because clearly everybody looks well-prepared and your whole family. i'm glad everybody is here. let me ask this, when you step in to this role several things

we already talked bout. >> we know there's a pathway to have good trade relations with these folks i go back o.

>> establishing peaceful relationships across the country allows us to have better trade agreements and better economic activity. i want to continue to be able to drive the messaging home. china has been dumping product, we talked about this a little bit in the office. the big challenge we have on china dumping product is not just that there dumping it, it's that the process you have to go through to be able to challenge the dumping of that, how many billions of dollars it takes to be able to challenge it and who actually enforces that. i don't falls largely on department of commerce for the

enforcement but one of the question that will come to you is how do we help our companies that no chinese products are being dumped on them and killing the market to have a better response and what pressure can you put while agreements are going on with the department of commerce trying to be able to prosecute those, how do you put additional pressure to make sure it stops.ps >>. >> is a great topic of conversation. as many on this committee no, dealing with unfair imports from china is what i do one thing the president directed he directed the commerce department to look at the dumping and see if they can be improved to better serve the american workers. if confirmed i would be committed to look at other unfair trade practices to see if we need paralleled actions

going on at the same time to make sure we resolve every aspect of the problem. >> there's also been conversation late this week dealing with packages coming in from china and how those are going to be handled. there was a pilot agreement established in 2019 to see if we could manage some of this the pilot program over the last four years has exploded and dramatically changed how we are handling the issue with usps. that's not firmly in your area but definitely a trade area we have to figure out how to be able to make sure they are paying their fair share. one of the questions i have you and i talked about in the office when you negotiating trade agreements you'll hear many of us talk about the power that you have. countries want to trade with the united rates as we produce great products and manufacturers are atremendous

what they do. the whole world wants it. that also means when you sit down with them and people say we want to open up a trade agreement people are gonna want to talk about labor agreements and how we make sure there's no unfair labor practices. what we do to make sure we don't have unfair competition but we also have things for religious liberty and free press i would just encourage you when you are an ambassador in many ways on many issues than when you sit down on trade agreements you have the ability to be able to sit down and press countries around the world that are pressing their people on issues like religious liberty and say if you want to trade with us we want to trade with you we want to be fair trade but we also want to see some action in your country that begins to balance out our people trading with fewer people that we want to know your respecting things like labor rights or free press or the freedom of religion. i'd encourage you to take that action as well while also

watching out for american workers. >> thank you senator, we will be sure to align with the state department who was very good on these issues to make sure all the messaging is aligned to encourage the kind of standards and values. >>. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you for this important meeting. it's good to see your family. yesterday the department of commerce report of the united states goods and trades deficit set a record last year of $1.2

trillion. clearly the fact that right now china has some thing like they import something like $84 billion of ilagriculture that's just one example. the other markets represent a huge opportunity for us. when you say in your comments in answering the comments we need concrete examples. i think this nkis where we are going to differ. i get that you work for a guy who thinks you throw down the tariffs hand for something some little deal out of china when i'm saying i want an aggressive continuation of us policy over decades and decades and decade , yes the bush administration, the clinton administration and others in opening up markets for our agriculture products. i don't like the fact that we

have taxpayers $28 billion last time during the trump administration bats what you came and asked they came and asked us for to compensate farmers loduring that i'm definitely being nicer to you that i have been to catherine ty i did not agree with the last trade ambassadors approach to say i'm gonna be the trade ambassador but i'm not to spend time on opening markets. my question to you is, when you look at apple in about 30% of our market export is canada and mexico in the u.s. free-trade agreement increase that capacity why are we arguing with our closest neighbors because export markets for apple in the meantime not going out and opening up more apple markets, the tariffs that were put on cost us an unbelievable retaliatory tariff in india

basically decimated the market and went from $120 million in india down to 1 million. hundreds of families lost their economic livelihood we had about 68,000 people employed in the apple sector in our state this is no small number. i fought hard and did get the biden administration to work with india and reverse that tariff on apple and we are back to recapturing the market but i don't understand why you think a tariff first approach is the way to capitalize on the y biggest task at hand. the biggest task at hand is to get more free-trade agreements, to get u.s. products into more places. i think i mentioned to you in my office that i am for an alliance strategy, i mentioned on technology, i would rather have the technology nato and have the five biggest democracies and nations like us

in japan and australia israel and say these are the rules of the road china and nobody in the world should buy from you if you have a government backdoor. i believe in competing with china and taking this market work but i don't understand how the administration can ignore this very big challenge of going and opening up markets and instead get in the fight with our biggest market. when they're not really our problem. and not go chase another market like india or as my colleague from iowa said, these very interesting markets that people are ?ignoring. every administration comes along and says i like bilateral's. i like fpgas i like ããi'm not religious necessarily on

tactics but i want you to have the most aggressive office possible, not to sit here and get into a tariff trade war that doesn't get result for five years but one empowered to open markets and get the dojob done. i don't understand why the tariff approach. my time is expired. if somebody could ããi guess we don't have our apple. i have to fight for these people. i think i mentioned, in this tariff war when we lose it's not that you won't have farmland, it's just that it will be owned by some corporation like goldman sachs or bill gates or those farm jobs like we saw with the retaliatory tariffs as a result of the trump lttariff did cause families and we can't bail them out with taxpayer ddollars, thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you.senator baines. >> chairman thank you, mr. greer, it's good to see you again. thank you for your commitment to service.

president trump has certainly laid out ambitious trade agenda is taken serious action this week to secure american interest i share his view with the united states to use every tool at our disposal to secure borders, to stop the flow of dangerous drugs into our communities. i applaud the quick work done by president trump to ensure that mexico and canada are doing their part. it's important to note the previous blanket tariff policies for steel and aluminum had serious effects on a wide range of my constituents in montana agriculture is our number one economic driver in montana. in some cases the price of

aluminum in the united states rose 15% which increased cost for manufacturers with ultimately passed on to consumers like farmers buying heavy equipment. it's equally important that we protect american farmers, american ranchers, small businesses, manufacturers, by moving quickly to open up new markets in the face of retaliation. the threat of retaliatory tariffs such on montana commodities like wheat early beet sugar, pulse crops, still looms as negotiations continue with canada and mexico. as i chat with my farmers back home, input costs remain very high. farmers and ranchers are facing razor thin margins and in many cases now negative margins and

the future cost of important inputs like fertilizer is energy remains uncertain. if confirmed, will you prioritize swift and immediate action to secure new market access. >> senator, thank you for that. i know these issues are front and center for you and your and tituents in montana there are things that i pay very close attention to as well because with respect to whether they will be swift action i think it's safe to say that the president has a bias for action and i'm going to do my best to keep up with him so i can open up the market so i can report back to him if i'm confirmed,

the opening markets given montana cattle ranchers and other farmers and growers opportunities and a lot of markets to expand d market acce to give them better growth from year to year. i know these are razor thin margins, i know every year the farmers and ranchers have to think about how they're gonna make their money. given input cost. and swift action is certainly what you will get from me if i'm confirmed. >> it's not lost on a spec 95% of the world's consumers live outside the united states. a lot of mouths to feed. outside the united states. i'm great opportunities we think about the future of farm and ranch in montana while depending on access. i remember having these confirmation hearings with the former ustr, they pursued a very unambitious trade agenda that created a vacuum and

allowed countries to fill the void left because of our absence. while they were asleep at the wheel other countries negotiate trade agreements that results in america falling behind, from beef exports to china, wheat to japan, pulse crops to india montana egg has benefited greatly from some of these trade agreements in the pacific and i remember being in china working with the chinese eadership a 14 year ban on us beef imports. now one of the largest beef markets in the world. we must not forget that despite all the challenge we face with china today that it is the second largest consumer market in the world, there's a lot of opportunity for growth for ag producers to get access to that important market.

my final question mr. greer, how will you ensure that china honors its commitments from matt phase 1 trade eal i would

very quickly go about enforcing compliance. is of critical importance of china wants to trade united states and have a healthy economic relationship if that's possible a lot of it is done in the fair market access for exporters and producers. 's final statement i'm over by one final statement. if confirmed i think we will have a very good team working with you and working confirmed senator producing to be an sador working together and making tremendous progress getting access to that very important very large market for producers. >> welcome mr. greer thank you for our meeting. as senator cassidy and senator graham and others will you

provide technical support and information to help inform our discussions if we proceed? >> thank you for that meeting yesterday and hearing about possibilities of referring to the tariffs on pollution. that's exactly right on pollution. when it comes to this problem if you will indulge me for a few seconds. >> i don't have very many seconds. >> i'm happy to work with you. >> there you go. we need your teams technical assistance as we develop a bipartisan proposal. second, in my days on the intelligence committee i develop a proposition that the largest factor in human history was the theft by the chinese of american intellectual property

through cyber intrusions. in my view, that theft has never been properly recognized in our commercial relationship with china.is that kind of history of massive theft and appropriate consideration in designing a commercial policy with china including tariffs? >> yes i think that's fundamental. i think it was a driving force behind much of what we did in the first trump administration with respect to china. >> and third, there is an issue i think trade policy can help quite a lot but we very often overlook here, emma rhode islanders, ocean state fishing community. what is going on in international fisheries is really a crime.

there were pirate fishing fleets that answer to no one whose crews are essentially modern-day slaves. there is a chinese predatory chinese fishing fleet and i would put the word fishing fleet" because very often they are doing other business for chinese intelligence services and the military. and we don't have a very robust response to that. when we met in unit for the munich security council the four-star head of africa, he said one of the most important things we can do to buttress our relationships with our friends in coastal africa would be to provide support for them to detect criminal fishing operations to be able to identify who's doing the criminal fishing operations and possibly to enforce against those criminal fishing se operations. .... icant tariff ways -- when

it is pure piracy, it will take some doing to trace it back to the nominal home of the vessel, whereas china boom with china you know that i would ask you to work with particular senator sold in and myself who have been working this issue and we hopefully want to increase the penalty around the pirate fishing fleet and to the extent this will become a part of our tariff policy it would be i think very helpful and would protect american fisheries against illegal and brutal foreign competition and with the side benefit that the rapacious

behavior happening in our seas is causing massive, massive environmental damage and the fish are down 90% from their previous numbers because these fleets are operating without restrictions andnd without law d without consequence. is that something you'd be willing to work with senator sullivan and mee on to put a had stop to it? yes senator. >> i don't -- i know we don't talk about fisheries much but i guess my colleagues to consider that. it's a competition with our fishermen versus their fisherman and the fleet and less re-taken out less re-taken adamonis the national security problem we are missing a significant part of the problem here so thank you. >> i agree with the points you made about fisheries senator whitehouse. >> looking forward to working

with you on it mr. chair and senator sullivan. >> thank you. senatorit smith. >> thank you mr. chair and ranking member and welcome mr. greer i'm glad to see you and appreciate your family being here and your willingness to serve our country. i believe too often our national trade policy for the last 35 years or so has failed american workers. under both democratic and republican administrations across big corporate interest importing goods ahead of the interest of workers to make it for american there's a direct connection between the significant income inequality that we see in this country and the way that our trade policies have been used to benefit the capitol and multinational corporations and as many of my colleagues have said it's not just jobs on the linux also our national security.

failed policye failed trade policy means we are way too dependent on china for many things including critical medicine and technology. the role of the less trade representative if you are confirmed he would forge new trade deals for maintaining an existing market testing domestic producers from unfair -- did i capture that correctly? i think that's fair. >> we agree that part of the balance of our strike is our trade policy doesn't end up hitting american manufacturers and american farmers. >> ith agree 100%. >> in order a to strike this balance as he was trade representative y you'll have several tools at your disposal for example of fake an example

of a factory in mexico that illegally suppressing wages in gaining in unfair advantage over your facilities and workers in the process and you could deploy the usmc a labor managers to get at that problem. would you agree with that? yes senator. >> at the foreign countries engaging in unfair.r. backpack -- practices you could impose section 301 terrace for example in products like for example steel. president trump did this in his first term with chinese imports and i think president biden expanded that with respect to other critical goods which i supported.d. both the and the biden administration. this is not leading to a trick question. >> yes. >> at the begin find a common ground when you in the trump administration are standing up for minnesota workers in

minnesota farmers and producerss and i think we could work together for example on taking on china's cheating when it comes to trade. this is an issue on both sides of the aisle. if the trump administration will take reckless straps -- steps like imposing tariffs on our allies in canada and mexico i'm going to fight that because i don't think that's going to be good for american workers and i think you'll end up hurting american workers. let me ask you how this pans out inme real time. you have talked about identifying new opportunities for opening up new markets and this is a long and arduous process. doesn't just happen. i'm thinking for example and thinking of what happened with the colombian market. there is a big effort to open up the colombian market to american poultry products in minnesota and then here comes president trump. he announces a 25% blanket

tariff on columbia and i understand he is pulled that back to what i fear is the united states with his erratic and chaotic trade policy is going to make it seem like an trading partner. mr. greer how will you go and negotiate with potential trading partners when we have a president who would be willing to trade an agreement on a whim on an issue that may be completely unrelated to trade. >> senator first of all thank you for your good summation of how ak. trade policy should work in its import a member we have trade agreements that contain exceptions for measures related to security and dealing with illegal migration and criminals with fentanyl is clearly an issue of a sense of security and other have cut off trade entirely and others have chosen that as a possibility but i

think it'll be important if i'm confirmed to make sure and coordinating with other agency to make sure where balance the needs ofhe trade incent essentil security matters. be an issuet will of real salience and concern for me and for minnesotans and for example i think of the work that minnesota producers did too to build on those trade agreements and to build relationships with folks around the world including columbia. his something that'sut completey unrelated in their minds to what that agreement was about in the course trade agreements and we talked about this it's not like turning on a light if you are producer. he build those relationships over time and there's also what happens where every action isnsa reaction as well so this is an area where you think we will have significant challenges. thank

you mr. chair. >> thank you senator hassan. >> and commission chair ranking member for this hearing. local mr. greer and congratulations on youre nomination and to your family al well. before we dive into trade issues i want to ask you a simple question in light of recent events. if directed by the present of united states to take action that would break the law would you followta the law or follow e president's directives? >> i can imagine the president asked me to break the law and i would never do that. >> would it be directed tohe do something that breaks i'll always stand by the law or will you stand with the president. >> i will stand with the law. >> we will hold you to that commitment. over the weekend president trump announced tariffs on all products imported from canada which has been delayed but will go into effect in the two weeks. 80% of new england's fuel supply comes from canada.

before the president present delays the tariffs to next month some home heating oil customers in new hampshire were not private at the paid 10% that the proposed another tear from their home heating oil bills. i h would add over $100 to the cost of filling a 275-gallon tank that home heating oil. the presence tariffs on imports from canada would also divest many other prices given that canada is our largest trading partners so mr. greer if confirmed how would you track the impact of the presence tariffs on new hampshire's families and small businesses and what actions would you take to address increased prices caused by thesee tariffs? >> senator thank you for that question and that's certainly something i expected confirmed not only the office of trade representative and others to be looking closely at the economic effect of any measures taken to secure the national security of the united states. these are things where it's hard

to do but how do we balance the concept of fentanyl against other potential costs and i know that's not what you are asking. >> you don't have a talk to me about that but i was governor for four years and i've been on the forefront of combating fentanyl in this body for a decade now and we are actuallyy making progress. was threatened with the own the order that imposed grants appropriated by this article i body of the united states comp -- constitution. what i've heard from my customers some of them voted for mr. trump because he promised them there is such a costs would come down and theyss are getting this document from urban oil company that are telling them that their home heating oil expense willoi go up by the amot of the tariffs and when you talked to my office you said you wouldn't expect that to happen but it's happening inside the same time the omb order

threatened home heating assistance to beee pulled. it was no minus 22 in new hampshire on sunday and between the terror threat and the home heating oil freeze people are worried about being able to heat their homes. what i want to know is what will you do if confirmed to combat that increase in price caused by the tariffs. >> first of all it's important to note when the president put out those executive orders related to potential tariffs on mexico and canada explicitly they said would be on energy and my role in what to make we coordinate with customs and border protection so i can understand where they are in negotiations with canada. >> so at the northern border we need more cooperation from canada although they have good

partners and border personnel from the united states government and we need to take other actions. let me just remind you that $100 more for a family to fill their heating tank is a significant cost and may cause real harm. there were other ways to combat the security issues you are talking about for people who are hardly making it through the winter will help to pay $100 more for each tank of oil. let's turn to another issue. when we met in december we discuss creating a hotline at the office of u.s. trade representative for small businesses to help in navigating increased prices from tariffs for this hotline would help small-business navigating exclusion process set up by the administration but it's critical for new hampshire small businesses that any process be fairai transparent and nonpartisan. will you commit to working with me to create the small-business

hotline at ustr. >> i will senator. >> thank you. my time is up and also that my remainingmi questions on china something i've i worked on was senator kassidy later. thank you. >> thank you. senator lujan. >> thank you for holding this hearing today. in 2020 40 mexico exported over $10.5 billion worth of goods less than 5 billion a year before. over 60% of those exports last year wereex into mexico and more worth over $6.5 billion in mr. greer i appreciate our conversation yesterday about your priorities on the the ambassador role in directing trade policy in this country and its impact on the economy and american workers. as you note the 2020 60 usmc review is approaching and president trump has put tariffs on mexico. what specific changes to the

agreement would you advocate for? >> thank you senator and i appreciate our conversation yesterday in your office. being a border state gives you unique insight in our relationship with mexico which you cite is complex not just trade. security and foreign-policyt etc.. we are in the process of taking a second look at usta to make sure it remains relevant and beneficial to americans. we'll make sure that third countries and foreign countries of concern are not hit inadvertently on agreement at the expense of america and our trading partners but i want to make sure the tech market access is secured in canada and mexico and are things that are acted upon. dairy intake and according to

mexico in energy and mexico but these are things where trading partners need to be held accountable and it's important for the political and economic sustainability of that agreement on the trade relationship with canada be addressed in a timely way. >> are there any specific changes as former chief of staff ustr previous trump administration you were? instrumental in negotiating these documents and you had intimate knowledge about these documents. are there any changes that you would change? >> yes i certainly would. i mentioned the rules of origin we should look at the rules of origin for automobiles did we should look and see if we need to have any kind of restrictions on content or value-added more nonmarket o economy in countries that would benefit from unfair treatment practices.

they benefit from the agreement so i think it would be worthwhile for us to look working with the unions in the industry and working with exporters to do a to do we can do to make sure we created benefit for american workers and american businesses as opposed to businesses and workers in their countries. >> would you protect or change the language surrounding the trade agreement to workers is as currently drafted? >> we work closely with the first administration with labor to develop what i think is the most ambitious labor chapter in any agreement and senator wyden helped us develop a lot of that language for the response mechanism. >> would you protect that language. >> i would certainly protect it. i appreciate that. w given that new mexico is their largest trading partner how would you make sure itde doesn't disrupt the economy.

>> we have a history on that the first trump term we have a aggressive and robust trade policy where inflation went down over time so as we are -- if i'm confirmed and able to implement a robust trade policy of u.s. will be implementing pragmatic energy policies competitive tax policies regular. policies permitting policies and all of these things will result in growth in all demographics which i is something which even the first first trump administration we can do it again. >> not to oversimplify it. if trickle-down economics will help my state because of the presence of sports and economy if tariffs are enacted? that i don't believe at all if trickle-down. these are the kinds of whether tariffs are market openings these go directly to workers who are working on the line in the factories and working on exports.

this is broad-based throughout them this is how it happened in the first trump term with it and come one and wage growth across the demographics could say can i get your commitment that if these tariffs negatively impact businesses in new mexico that i have your word to get that corrected. >> senator i want to hear from you on what the impacts are in what we can do tou make sure ty will benefit from the growth. >> i believeve you will stand by your word that i can count on you to make sure businesses don't get hurt babies threaten tariffs. >> i want to make sure that they don't and i can't guarantee economicnn outcomes that we can create incentives that are designed too benefit workers and i want too work with you to promote that. i can't guarantee everything the market is going to do but will do all he can to make sure. >> i yield back mr. chair. >> thank you senator blackburn. >> thank you mr. chairman and mr. greerr and delighted you hae

such strong tennessee roots and how appropriate your family hails from trade. we think that's a prettyom good motto and we need to get you back in the state and let you see our world-class logistics in memphis and meet some of the wonderful manufactures that we have. trade is important to us in tennessee. last year we had about $62 billion in goods and manufacturing plants with over a 360,000 workers. of course this is automobiles and it is appliances in its google tennessee whiskey. that course is deemed a primary export from our state. tennessee is one of the states that is a manufacturing

powerhouse and because of this the interest are imported might now i have two bipartisan bills in congress committee that deal with supply. and strengthening those supply because those key components whether it's precious metals or minerals or pharmaceutical ingredients, all of this in advance manufacturing is vital to us and knowing that the inputs are going to come from trusted sources that will come from our allies and allow us to return to domestic manufacturing is something that is important. what i'd like to hear from you is what steps you will take to strengthen the supply for us and for these domestic manufacturers and make certain they can get

what they need without having to necessarily deal with china. >> thank you senator and it was great to meet with you in your office. you have been a consistent supporter for me and i sincerely appreciate that. that means a lot to me and you are fortunate in tennessee to have a dynamic economy and lot of the country has learned ath lot. a manufacturing you manufacturing of ag in i.t. and all a these things that lead to robust growth so i think when you talk about supply-chain think that's really important.ai historically we have often approached trade policy sometimes on a project by project basis. you have a producer to get a trade product and that's important but we need to be thinking about in terms of supply chain particularly a strategic one in many cases we have trade policies and other policies that incentivize production in the u.s. so he can have a secure source and at the same time there will be

instances where comes from us or where we want to create incentives to bring in these kinds of things when we have two from countries that agree with us on things that matter the most in countries that abide by the rule of law. i'm a little skeptical because a lot of countries even though they are our allies have their own unfair treatment practices and things that undermine free and fair trade and i want to deal with that. >> has joined senator hassan mentioned to you about small business. we have small business distributors that can only get thanks from a certain country and there needs to be that carveout for that recognition. if you take something l like tequila for a distributor there's only one place they are going to get that. likewise you mentioned ag and we have 70,000 farms in the state in 90% of those are independent. they are not corporate farms and

china has agreed to purchase $200 billion you are very well aware y of that. that was part of the days when deal and you are part of that.at china is not buying this toy in the cotton and the things included in that bill for tennessee farmers and would likf to have your attention on that. >> senator my attention will be on that if i'm confirmed. theed president has directed the office of administration to agree with that. >> before my time runs out digital trade mack is vitally important to us. you mentioned i.t. protections and for many of our integrators and entertainers. having this presence in digital trade mack and making certain we are maintaining our position on the stage are hurting businesses that transact in a virtual space

and that will be important. my time is up but i would like for you to submit to me what we can do and what you will do to recoup that digital trade mack and protection. and i thank you. >> senator welch. >> thank you very much and welcome. you are being considered for one of the most important jobs that affects our economy in the work you've done and in my view the. policies we have exported jobs the first thing i want to ask

you is what are the specific agreement to be yt working on wn you take office? >> thank you senator and i appreciate you saying that. i really enjoyed our conversation. so right out the gate i expect we'll be takingl a second look. something that's mandated by the agreement and part of that is i'm supposed to get the public and get their view in go to congress. >> in some areas it has driven for example expanded automotive production in america in the united states which is beneficial and now the biden administration had labor conditions in mexico and a lot of our ag communitieskn were hay to get secure continued in some cases extended ag access. but what role the steep tariffs

playing in our trade policy? with respect to terrapin trade policy we need to create incentives to get market access overseas. our -- is which is substantially lower. >> uc tariffs as a tool for market access for ensuring jobs here? exactly. it could be used as revenue or a tool as best. wait that's only i thing. your job is trade policy and what we are talking about is tariffs for revenue to agree that the tax and the tariffs are paid by the consumers. >> taxes are an assessment of foreign goods on the value of foreign goods in foreign countries. >> when you are using your

responsibility and trade policy i get that the tariff is used as a negotiating tool on a one-out situation that increases tariffs on mexico and canada. that's a tax and it's beyond trade policy if the president uses that power for leverage. do you think the proper use of the congressionally extended authority to theco president national emergency to impose tariffs is a national emergency. >> yes. >> do you think this would be a heads-up to an ally like canada contemplating doing something that would have an impact on usmcj if we negotiate that in good faith and all parties are in compliance? certainly and i think in november we talked about it. >> i'm with senator hassan this has a huge impact on

vermont. we do most of their trade in canada and we had a roundtable at various businesses and we had over 150 calls and it was everyone from a large very successful construction company to a woman who gets yarn and does weaving and organic farmers. everyone of these people were just stunned at the implications of these out of the blue tariffs the end the threats it would have on theirr businesses. don't people deserve a heads-up and vermont before they get hit with what appears to be a tariff for an individual object of the trump save senator the present was transferred about this for several months that he was contemplating doing this and the migration issues. i think it's important for people to understand what might

be comingmi especially. >> i appreciate you and your candor. ranking member i do have concerns about abuse of the delegation tariff authority to a president to use a national emergency to use negotiating tactics and i believe i don't think any president should be able to unilaterally impose a tax in one of the things i'm increasingly worried about is the abdication of their own article i authority and weakening this branch of government and for any president to totally disregard the peoples branch. thank you very much mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator warnock. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. in our meeting we discussed the importancecu of inflation

reduction act and its clean energy investments in georgia. i enjoyed our conversation and congratulations to you and book him. >> thank you. >> we talked about these provisions and we have seen growth in her advanced manufacturing sector with both domestic companies and foreign companies making significant investments. due in large measure to the clean energy investments bringing a lot of doubts to georgia. one of the things that i'm very prou' of as a lifelong native of georgia is that georgia known as the capitol ofas the world if you're walking on the floor anywhere there's a good chance you are walking on something created but who would have

imagined it would become such a leader in the manufacturing of solar panels? this is due to the manufacturing bringing thousands of jobs in the solar industry almost entirely free from chinese supply however it needs trade protections to compete against a heavily subsidized chinese industry. if confirmed as the nation's trade representative how would you work to protect and grow domestic solar and clean energy manufacturing to make sure our supply chain does not depend on china say the thank you t senat. and i'm glad to hear you express concern images in this. these are things i'm concerned about. to the extent there will be energy products manufactured united states it would be great

to have them made here and that we are not using panels that come from china. some instances it may include products from forced labor subsidy so the firstor administration safeguarded the tariffs in the commercemm department for many years and put other tariffs in place and those could be effective tools which you testified to this that we have this new production united states. i'm very interested in maintaining this production here. >> i appreciate that and i look forward to continuing to have that conversation. he talked about the investments in solar energy in georgia and i'm also proud that george in many ways is leading the country and in electric cars entirely made in the united states employing thousands of georgians and now near my hometown with the kia plant with 9000 or more

jobs that have been created in the area. it's been an economic loan. president trump the congressional republicans have bragged about dealing with federal investments in the green economy that created these jobs. jobs that have bipartisan support and i support what we are doing and the republican governor supports another's. this is a bipartisan economic issue. if confirmed how would you use your position c to protect the investments and thousands of jobs, jobs that are companies have brought to georgia. >> senator my role in majors diction in theti administrations to negotiate treatment deals where appropriate and use trade enforcement is necessary which is an area i want to make sure any manufacturing have with the

foreign product and with respect to other incentives or other legislation that something i believe the treasure in the energy department and the president congress will determine. >> wouldpr you agree if we see that space and that's not a net positive result. >> i think we need to have advanced manufacturing here in united states whether it's traditional electric vehicles are solar panels. >> so ideology around clean energy should not enter into, shouldn't stop us from that. >> if we are going to be manufacturing clean energy and policies we should be making it possible. >> thank you so much and i have other questions. it. thank you appreciate senator warren. send thank you mr. chairman and congratulations on your

nominationon mr. greer. tariffs are an important strategic economic tool. i'm concerned that president trump is stumbling into trade war that won't protect jobs and will keep americans safe and won't bring down costs for american families. that said i think you and i agree that for too long u.s.'s trade policy has been a race to the bottom with deal after deal that has sold out american workers and helped multinational corporations offshore critical industry. lately that's been changing under u.s. trade rep catherine tom: and i appreciate your work as chief of staff ambassador. ambassador lighthizer had it right whent he wrote back problems in our trade relationships with china and

u.s. trade policy in general can be traced to quote the political establishment of both the republican andic democratic parties under the implements of multinational corporations and importers end quote. do you agree with mr. lighthizer the multinational corporations have just had too much power over u.s. trade policies? say i agree with ambassador lighthizer and i believe trade policies in the past have helped that sector and is ignored other sectors. >> bowie up to start by recognizing the problem, right start far too long corporate lobbyists have bought their way into our trade policy and i'm glad to see that changing. raising tariffs doesn't mean an end to corporate -- when the last trump investors and hiked tariffs corporate lobbyists

lined up to demand exemptions and now with president trump setting even more tariffs they are ready to do ito again. what does the tariff exemption processes look like the last tie around? i investigated and i found that trump commerce department was three times as likely to approve exemptions for chinese and japanese headquartered companies than american ones. mr. greer favoring foreign partners over a american partners that goodav policy? recent study found trump ustr officials were more likely to grant exemptions to companies that have made campaign contributions to republicans or

lobbyists who had recently left the trump administration to. mr. greer favoring companies with deep pockets and political connections come is that good trade policy? a course on any program like that needs to be transparent. >> i appreciate that answer. this time around president trump has proposed more broader tariffs than before potentially on all goods from all countries. with more and more tariffs corporate scrambles for exemptions is more and more intense. one trade lobbyist recently said in a quote absolutely everyone is calling. it's nonstop and let's be clear most businesses across america cannot afford armies of lobbyists. so mr. greer do you support tariff exclusions as exemptions and if so what changes would you

make to ensure that it's a fair process and not just to give away toto political insiders in deep pocketed corporations. >> senator i have been a leader on this and given a lot of thought to it. any time we are taking economic action for tariff for an exclusion would need to care about it. i don't know in any event tariffs are played i don't know if the present has an exclusion policy if something like this happens we need to be transparent and one thing they did the first time around is if one company has an exclusion and the company has exclusions so again i don't know if there will be processes but to the extent there they need to be transparent and fair.

>> i very much appreciate what you had to surround this -- we had to say around this and they are important tools that can be used strategically and fairly further industries to protect domestic supply and protect jobs of american workers. but we can't have a get out of tariff free system for those that are wealthy or politically connected because that would undermine the whole process. thank you and thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator johnson. >> mr. greer welcome. when i was chair of common security and 2020 when the pandemic was starting we held a hearing with former heads of cdc and the type of thing and whether one of the things i was surprised to find out what's we don't produce the chemicals are active pharmaceuticals for our drugs. that's an enormous vulnerability

so that would bee the top of my list inn terms of strategic projects that we need to bring back manufacturing. there are environmental regulations. what otheren strategic products are at the top of your list that we need to think out of the box where vulnerable and how would you view your role in terms of using her position to help achieve those goals quick. >> senator johnson i'm glad you raised this because this is something i think about a lot of i've written about it previously about these issues. pharmaceuticals for sure is one we need to look at and semi-conductors had electronic something where congress has taken action. we need to look at aerospace to chinese aircraft manufacturers that are coming on line will be a challenge in the market. >> we need to help boeing as opposed to trying to beat up on them.

>> well. industrial robotics opposite technologies like ai. >> wisconsin and manufacturing state and the reality is when you start slapping tariffs on steel and manufactures who import some the types of steel they are competing against global manufactures that will have assets to chinese steel. you understand the double-edged sword nature of the trade were in thate situation. can you speak to how it can handle that to try to minimize what we are paying. >> certainly. the aluminum tariffs imposed by the truck of and kept by the by demonstration are managed and operated by the department of commerce and to the extent i'm working with the secretary i'd talk to him about this.

i think it's important the administration and the commerce department get feedback and then of course feedback on some of these questions. it does require s protection and all the capacity in the world. if their concerns when he dear commune your constituents. >> china produces grotesque levels in the steel industry and it's a real problem. on asking is you were work closely with us and answer phonecalls we have a real problem. there are multiple uses for tariffs and scott bessent talked about that and to force traded partners to be fair p with us ad to achieve other goals. president trump u. said in his first term to secure the border when mexico wasn't crew core operating and oppositely secure the border. i just want to go through with

the revenueue amounts you're talking about and how are you concerned about $1.8 trillion deficits so more than 1.5 as far as the eye can see. i've heard figures of revenue replacing the income tax i'm just not seeing it. the latest trade figures i have in $20,233.9 trillion in imports and only 3.1 were good so i'm not aware they put tariffs on services correct. >> we have not put tariffs on services. ceglia $3.1 billion in imports andli we need -- a 10% across-the-board turf would raise tariff revenue and that's not even close. where my hearing these figures and his president trump and where is he getting these figures and would he haveha in

mind as the goal is to what revenue you want to raise as a policy? i'm happy to talk about that. some of it's under the wheelhouse of the secretary of thehe treasury and their initiatives going on on water appropriate levels of i don't think we are in a position to tomorrow fund the entire government and i don't think that's the case then i don't think anyone thinks that. historically we have had tariff revenues and it's an important part of funding the government. >> that was when the government was 2% of gdp. >> that's right. those of these combined what should the government be paying for and what does the budget look like and i understand i'm reprinting your question back to you. i'm not giving you g a number because i don't have a number on this but it's important issues

to chase down i think we have data sense if we are going to be using if the president wants to use tariff revenue and port to make sure we have a good handle on the budget and that's a conversation with congress as well. >> ismb a $3.1 trillion in goods being imported? mimic on imported goods yes. >> thank you. senator kassidy. >> let me, menu. my grandson would be climbing the wall right now. there's he's considerably well-behaved and congratulations on your parenting skills. let me ask you this you have been concerned of the skepticism of the need for the mechanisms theng wto. producers and of others have one decisions of the wto on commitments by other countries

on agriculture subsidies and yet they aren't enforced. her my eggroll -- agricultural people decide on the cold? their disputes with the wind but now the how the dispute and help my rice producing here. >> censure i think you're exactly right and i show skepticism sometimes because if we win a case we get a result. so it's two different issues but one yet to win a case in the new haptic force in the first step is winning the case and that i've seen progress in that but the lack of enforcement which is critical that doesn't get thrown out the case if you understand what i'm saying. >> are two ways to do it. you can negotiate it. it's not successfully not leverage behind it and you getsu the case you have tab authority

and you have domestic laws that can detect unfairs trade policies. >> those are economic necessities. are you saying other mechanisms we would m abandon wto idr and rely upon a tariff relief. >> i think we need to use any tools they have available to get relief so we can have the market aspect. >> why would be the -- why would we be tossing it to allow? not just any tool but the tool of the idr. it seems like we are taking a tooling getting rid of it. >> part of the proms we have had and i've seen letters from the chairman talking about how we need to make sure the wto doesn't undermine our trade laws if we can use the wto

effectively to the gash it -- to negotiate over rule that's fine but we need to your point we have tab enforcement and that means you sgr hesterin for so long sometimes that means trade enforcement that means tariffs. >> so that's my next question you set me up dutifully. the eu japan and the less find a legal end of bikes in their shipments and their allegations they use forced labor at every step of the supply chain. i think i've raised this with your former boss and now you produce you use tariffs as a tool we can show there is forced labor issues and yet we are havinged our people run out of business by shrimp being dumped into our country and will you commit to put a tariff on the shrimp if we can show it's being

imported under those circumstances. >> senator there's a process section 301 and other statues -- statutes and if i preach; troubled by the courts. if there's unfair trading policies you can get that into remedy. we need to explore whether it's 301 or other tools tohe make sue we are detecting them and addressing them. >> i think something sheldon whitehouse brought up right now i'm not against tariffs and it's an across-the-board tariff but it's the tariff i'm not sure about and i'm not sure how the laws can apply the one thing i'm concerned about is china is not using nonenforcement environmental regulations. they produce a lot of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and the atmosphere the tradewinds in

your country that lowers the cost of manufacturing by not enforcing those regulations in their industry moves they are because they just lowered their manufacturing costs by 20% by dumping their air pollution on us. i have proposed a fee on the carbon intense products in countries that do not enforce internationally accepted norms on pollution control. any thoughts on that? i think you've articulated the problem very well and there's an unlevel playing field and other countries take advantage of total lack of environmental regulations and those differ obviously in our country. we are cleaner than these other places. i think it would be interesting to explore with the rest of the committee how we address that issue and plead to think of creative solutions on how to do

that. >> senator tillis. okay senator young you are up. >> thank you mr. tillis and mr. chairman. mr. greer during the last administration trade policy seemed toas be treated as an abstract concept not really an opportunity for america did make our her people wealthier. if anything trade policy was something where we were consistently in the crowd chanted screamed in security come it screamed weakness and i'm certainly expecting better from this muscular administration has her relates to tradest policy. if it doesn't make us stronger

and we are actively looking for partners and allies to help us shore up our supply chain by building redundancies and all sorts of economic ground could have introduced a strategic minerals act. we introduced it yesterday that would give this president and future presents more authority when it comes to renegotiating sector specific free trade agreements focused exclusively in this case uncritical minerals and where earth elements. we need these. on happen in the ground here so we need to trade in order to get access toso them. my legislation is designed to bolster cooperation and we are looking for vectors of cooperation to eliminate barriers to enhance our nation's economic security so we are starved as we were recently during the pandemic. mr. greer you've expressed

support for trade agreements in the past andpp it confirmed whih countries and sectors do you see is the most viable for securing market opening trade deals that will uplift american businesses and workers and how will you ensure the united states is no longer shut out of critical supply. >> senator i appreciate your views on this in and the conversation we had in your office. on note the presence treatment post a memorandum that he set up two weeks ago one thing he talked about was considering whether a lateral agreements might make sense. i spoke earlier with senator johnson about some of the key supply that i worry about like pharmaceuticals; to -- semi-conductors critical minerals. i want tonk t be careful in talg about trade agreements because i don't want to be in a position of going to country that has a 50 billion-dollar trade surplus

already. that to me is not that kind of trade i want. if there is an agreement with like-minded countries who are aligned with those on security rule of law on things like that it intensifies the program. >> absolutely. i'm encouraged by that response and given the limitations of executive agreements you know they only last for the duration of a presence term in this case of course it would be four years. the necessity of congressional approval for finding market access deals do you believe ustr would be in a stronger position if congress provided a clear legislative framework similar to tpa. tailored for sector specific agreements like those of critical minerals. >> senator i want to think about that. i think any trade agreement with the ustr i want to have full

support.t. did u.s. and c. we had 89 senators vote for it. that's the level of support i want and if congress thinks a legislative framework -- we'll talk about what makes sense. on a related topic united states is so sophisticated when it comes to the w digital economy d this digital trade. there's a geopolitical overlay to our engagement with other countries tearing down barriers to products had that overlay if we abandon our values privacy rights can consumer protection transparency all the things americans valued at the chinese are others want to sell into our large economy allied countries or the united states they need to abide by our values so that's really exciting but there's an economic dimension as well.

here again the previous administration did nothing, nothing despite bipartisan support for expanding digital trade access but they play defense the whole time thinking trade was a four-letter word. mr. greer if confirmed how we work to prevent the discriminatory treatment of u.s. companies in key global markets to ensure they are competing at a level playing field when it comes to individual trade. >> center in the first trump administration we took action under section 301. there are many jurisdictions right now that are doing this and other measures. to try to control the business model and i want to make sure they can't discriminate against it. we need to make sure we are able to stay competitive globally. >> i look forward to working with you toward that objective. thank you so much.

>> now senator tillis.il >> thank you mr. chairman. the we brought you all a bag. jamison you need to know that i have three big sisters and they are awesome although sometimes they can be bad. and you get to share that with her sisters but you have control as little sister. mr. greer thank you for being here and you've done an extraordinaryy job. all the discussions i want to have with you about trade policy for north carolina more than 50% of our trade is with canada and mexico and china and i'm wide open to some of these innovative ideas holding them accountable because there could be short-term uncertainty and gains with the benefit of pain for the benefit of long-term pain. just one question mr. chair i would like to ask unanimous consent to submit this

commentary for mr. greer recently on the posture toward south korea. without objection. >> i'm going to give you a break. all of the opening comments about the president creating uncertainty, okay let's talk about that. he said columbia faded and start working with united states they would impose tariffs on them in the person said no way. he decided he was going to go to the brink because of the illegal immigrants coming from columbia and what turns out and i know people said the prison blanks but in this case it wasn't president trump it was president petro and now he's showing respect for ourno laws.

president petro should pay attention to an environment that would force families to make the dangerous trip all the way from columbia to come across the border -- border to convince states and maybe that president should. not only work with the united states. understand he has fundamental problems that would cause responsible parents to dont tha. and mexico same thing the president the uncertainty that was created over the course of four days created a consequence of 10,000 troops going to the northern border of mexico. i hope the president threatens tariffs again and maybe 5000 troops to the southern border of mexico so people in columbia can't make that dangerous trip. canada, if canada had paid its fair share to nato, if canada in

this century alone the last 24 years had paid their fair share to nato they would have a third of a trillion dollars in modernization readiness that doesn't exist because they are like lighter and taking advantage of our border and taking advantage of trade agreements. putting them on notice is necessary because they are acting like children because they are north of the sport of the most powerful nation on earth and they are taking us fot granted. i think you'll find specific examples of where they have done that on trade and that's where we need to tailor our grumet south korea you articulately in your commentary have identified the threat there in the way they are trying to counter unfairly oddly our big tech and high-tech in general. and some in their own country. andin china, finally china.

in the day we know in north carolina if we give in to broad-basedor trade were we will get closed off access to the markets for and chicken etc. but we had to hold them accountable folks. i've seen counterfeit goods that have had killed people coming from china. they are stealing our international property and stealing our ideas and making it and making it less safe than i believe under your leadership we will tailor it. everyone has this false narrative that we will use blunt force tariffs across the border and it's illogical. we if we did that to get the discount to senator johnson's question discount the net revenue because of a net retaliation but i have confidence in you mr. greer to provide the advice to the president to get this right. it's time for europe in time for

canada in time for china in time for the countries of south america to understand where we've beenen treated unfairly we no longer well and i look forward to supporting a nomination.na and kids your dad has done a good job. >> thank you very much senator for all of that. >> senator marshall. >> ranking member i guess i met today. first of all. to once again be on the side of the dais and we share me the singles but i heard my colleagues say they wanted aggressiveve trade agenda to opn a free market so that's exciting to hear. i would add ice and they want them to have fair and reciprocal trade agreements as well so we are assuming we share the same goals. president trump gave us u.s. in ca and a south korea and improved japanese trade agreement so important to america feed in china phase 1.

mr. greer what trade agreements were comp is senator joe biden? >> senator i'm not aware. >> i want to compare and contrast a little bit more. let's talk about mexico. it's one of. the simpler ones understand thanks to present trends usda trade agreements mexico and canada supplanted china is the number one trade partner for kansas agriculture and many of our materials as well. joe biden mexico undermined its american farms and bullied u.s. companies they shut down the gmo warn experts forcing a huge dispute the hampered u.s. energy production under joe biden mexico sees the u.s. mining companies operation near cozumel. what can you do and what can we do to reverse this behavior? >> senator i had to point out i do have one child that was born ino kansas. >> that's great to hear and

maybe it had something to do with your time in the air force. >> that's exactly right. you can wear chiefs jersey or a jayhawks jersey. which one is that? >> i have a wichita state jersey. any agreement we have is only as viable as the enforcement behind it. whether by nurture corn would be to enforce that. the case on the cornish i'm going to enforce that. we will bring that up with as well. good friends make good neighbors if we won't have good ongoing trade relationships of books we had to hold them accountable. >> i never seen such an unevenlk playing field for american biofuels to the u.s. is subject to 18% tariffs going into brazil

with biofuels yet brazil enjoys free access to the u.s. and in many cases thanks to scientific they are giving brazil a preference over american biofuels as well. chinese used cooking oil exports and you are familiar with how they are abusingar that. you would think if we were going to get tax credits would make sure they won't benefit foreign entitiesfi especially those who wish to harm us. what can you do to help the biofuels industry to level that playingay field this is a specic kind of unfairness that drives me and it's notot just the prest himself. he sees the unfairness in and level playing field. at first and you can go to somebody like the brazilians have had to be followed up with

or else and it may sound a little but we need to have leverage and we need to gain leverage by taking actions and we will dodo that. we will do whatever i need to do it so let's talk about china per per second per there so many more things than just trade and tariff barriers there are many non-tariff barriers and i'm sure many people highlighted them. there's stealing genetics from us and blocking important technologies and blocking chicken exports from 42 states because of hbi. they committed to it but never followed through and i could go on. in contrast to the biden administration or can we build on president trump's success under phase 1 with china? >> we need to start by reviewing it and actually assessing whether not china is and to what degree. the president is directed the office to do that but to go to their web site there's an

announcement that they are doing this. in the first instance you have to have a clear i t assessment. we want to be able to clearly look at where they did not comply and from there you move to a dispute settlement and hopefully this is an area where countries will understand because they know that president trump is serious about this and i'm serious about this. >> if i could just finish with this as you know we have almost 1 billion-dollar trade deficit in this country. as well as the national security issue and i appreciate president trump this drug war that we are having with canada and china and there are no precursors. i greatly appreciate him prioritizing the security of our families and if he has used tariffs for that understand. these tariffs will bring jobs back to america as well and

that's another way we can use this. one thing i would dispute and we would disagree with my friends across the aisle when they say americansu consumers will pay fr these tariffs for them to president trump you used tariffs and we saw minimal inflation so at the end of the day those tariffs were not passed on to americans in the big picture. i'm sure you can find anan isolationist but to me the big picture is for one reason or another those tariffs were used properly and we are able to not pass that on to american consumers. mr. greer is there a way to do that going forward? >> i agree 100% with that. will we learn first-term is president trump's economic team is good at the economy and we saw household income go up by $7000. this was at a time where imposing tariffs something we hadn't done in many years and

when we look at inflation in the biden administration it was about tariffs it was about health care and food that we don't import from china. we know we have a strong economy and expect to be able to takes strong trade actions for average americans. senator thank you very much mr. chairmen and ranking member thank you. >> senatorat scott. >> mr. greer it's good to see you here and i'm little bit concerned that i heard exchange between you and ms. marshall that somehow ms. marshall provided some incentive what's the word i'm looking for here? brainwash a young girl about being a kansas kansas jayhawks fan or kansas city chiefs fans. i know you are supporting the eagles is that what i understand? i thought that was the eagles jersey you had on their y sir.

i just want to make sure you realize the carolina gamecocks is a fine school for kids to follow and we have an air force base but just realized kansas is a fine state. we like kansas and we hope all things go well later on this week. i would be remiss if i didn't mention that airline again cox and the kids and their future. so i'll be happy to work with you on collegiate allegiance. so i thank you appreciate that. extending market access for american-madeer goods is criticl to our strength and competitiveness. 95% of her customers are outside of our nation. in south carolina we have $36.4 billion of manufactured goods and products that support 112,000 jobs.

our agricultural goods $1.2 billion access to the world's market is incredibly important. we believe they create good-paying jobs in south carolina we believe great paying jobs acrossli this country and e aggregate value of those goods and services in other states. how do you plan to secure the market access in theet first 100 days? >> thank you senator. i would say when i look at some of our largest trading partners they are the largest because we import so much from them. they reach their historical high trade deficit of over $100 billion. we have a lot of trading partners that enjoy very substantial trade axis with a states that we don't have reciprocal access going at their way into me this is a huge problem. the problem for workers and exporters and manufacturers in

south carolina and elsewhere. i think in short order we will be approaching these countries to assess their unfair trade practices and white wide as they are able to maintain a huge trade imbalance with us over many years. it doesn't make sense because we are competitive and we should build a ship overseas and i expect the trump administration will have competitive energy policies and tax policies and regulatory and permitting policies that helps us be more competitive in the foreign market. if i'm confirmed i need to go to these countries and ask if they want to enjoy continued market access they need to have a betterte philosophy. >> the presence tariffs approached has the american consumer in mind and the more efforts we have seen from the president in this direction it

seems like his ability to recalibrate the global system and frankly to make it more responsive to americans net positive long-term. >> senator i agree and i couldn't say better myself. that's exactly the way we need to doo this. we need to better serve american workers. >> it occurs to me there countries like china and i'm not sure if the politically right way to say this but they lie and yet the world tre organization have the most favored nation status. what should we do about that and how do we re-examine that and how can we rise eyes that relationship as well >> senator i think it's important because if you look historically granting trade relations is a major cause of the situation we

are in with a balance of trade ends important for congress and the administration to look at how that looks going forward and the person put it in his trade policy memorandum consider the losses there a ways to go about it. obviously making sure the economy goes well and we have growth. want to make sure we are dependentwe on china strategicay and in our farmers aren't so dependent on that there's economic wars and so i'd love to have a conversation with you about that. they don't necessarily need a response but from my perspective our first weapon for national security out to be an economic kinetic option. and deploying it as effectively as possible to keep americans safe and our soldiers at home safe and we need to reposition americana hill.

i hope we engage in most effective approach and use of that economic weaponry as possible. >> i agree with that and thank you. six senator barrasso. >> thanks for being here and thank you for your time in my office. you will be the tip of the spear and advancing prison terms pro-growth and pro worker trade agenda. he'll be working to open up new markets for nation producers including wyoming mining energy production and farmers and ranchers. i'll be protecting america's interests in fighting back against the abusive treatment practices from foreign adversaries that undermine u.s. industries in arkham critical supply chain. the olympic task in front again we are counting on you and no doubt given your experience serving president trump as chief of staff as a u.s. trade rep during his first term you are ready and equipped to lead the

charge on the half of the nation's trade agenda in the secondui term. with regard to market actions i know we talk aloud about markett accesso today and we talk about market access when we met in my office. i mentioned the importance of opening up new industries in the home state of ohio. it was a big win for wyoming ranchers. i told you about how wyoming is an energy powerhouse the nation's energy breadbasket wyoming plays a major part in the world providing funding affordable energy to our allies around the world. we have huge mineral deposits in wyoming and a mineral which is refined in soda ash and cannot go building block used in manufacturing lots of products detergent pharmaceuticals natural gas coal critical minerals and agriculture.

wyoming's economy this economy wills greatly benefit is the expert resources. as u.s.tr trade rep what types f emphasis we place on opening upp new markets for u.s. exporters and certainly for wyoming resources? >> senator thank you for that and i agree with you on mineral wealth that we share with the country and the rest of the world. i expect going forward we want to be in a positionn where economy is very strong. i don't think trade policy is an end to itself but it will result in higher wages and higher incomes for americans. that means a lot of things. we will export more and everyone knows i have concerns about the trade deficit and if itab gets harmful but there are several ways to get atan it. one is by ensuring making sure

we have other markets where we can target services. >> is there a way you do it differently under the biden administration which was way short in opening new access. >> it's important in a very early stage and i hope it's important in then early stateso figure out exactly what we want from these other countries. you hear people say let's do a deal and i say well what is the deal that you want so the more specificity that i can obtain what if i'm confirmed from our industry and our workers on what kind of market access we need and where it will make my job that much easier to go to these countries that have enjoyed market access for veryry long time. this is what we need and this is what we expect. if you want to have too continued good economics with

the estates we expect access and this is about being a but it's having fair and reciprocal access. >> i want to talk about mexico. mexico is repeatedly violated historic united states mexico canada but they were ruled by a panel to be in violationby of usmcj with respect to u.s. corn. mexico is taken actions toward seizing assets of u.s. companies it's an issue that i weighed in on over the years in mexico's affiliate towards america's energy companies and the previous president discriminate against producers state-owned in utilities and gas companies. the biden -- fell well short of protecting them. they failed tremendously to make any meaningfulus progress.

that great uncertainty jeopardized lots of u.s. investments. >> of a tender in and the record of bicameral letter to address this matter. >> without objection. going forward under the trump administration and with mexico's neww present who is known off is how important will this be for u.s. trade reps to help protect u.s. energy companies and their investments? senator i share all the concerns that you have laid out. american energy companies were the cleanest companies and labor practices are good in our governmental practices are excellent. that's why our energy companies are the choice all over the o world. i want want to build the go in look at where the have been the discriminatory against us and take an unfair action inak e industry and where they violated

and if it requires consultation will be better if it requires -- will do that. >> thank you. we are gettinget close. >> if you will wrap up and i will wrap i up. >> myn question to you and i'm going to head to one quick area and take a short step in a closing statement that deals with forced labor. forced labor and doing everything we can to block it is the morally right thing to do but it's also enormous important for american businesses and merck and workers and in fact you thought it was important usdi insist on the primary enforcement of the u.s. sports labor committee. i would like to know how you think we are going to be able to wage this fight because usaid

the foreign players are having their roles reversed under what we have been talking about in the last couple of weeks. i'd like your thoughts on what's going to be done to have an aggressive effort against forced labor which i think is an important effort for the united states for the reasons i just mentioned. >> senator i agree on the forced labor issue that u.s. customs and border protection has enforcement of a ban escalating debt in recent years and i assume that direction will continue. it's not my agency but it's an area where i'm very concerned and if i'm confirmed -- >> why don't you put this in ready because that's why mentioned the organization so if you tell me if somebody else that concerns me because i want to know how we

will be able to push at least as hard as we do today rather than go on forced labor. and here's my last thought. i still haven't heard from you over the course of the close to three hours despite my repeated requests a single good economic argument on the sweeping universal tariffs.ff in fact some of my colleagues who haven't had a chance to get into this over the years as well that's a bit under trump won. that's not what we have done under trump won and in fact donald trump specifically said he wanted goac way beyond what e have done in his first term to these universal tariffs. i want to leave you with this. i feel so strongly about trade being done right. i want to continue to discuss thesesu issues with you.

i'm not convinced we are there yet because this is particularly critical to our competitiveness and inflation what it will mean for working people in small business is and i consider this absolutely a prerequisite to doing trade right and we have not gotten in my view an answer on the question which is the big change in policy for trump wanted to trump to. they are not the same thing. this has much more extensive consequences and i will close by way of saying i was supportive of the targeted tariff approach and i think you may have been in my h office with mr. lighthizer when he said we will go end and laser out and approach that ensured we getut the upside of a

tariff without the anticonsumer downside. i want to invite you to continue to work with me through my office to see if we can get through this and come to an agreement in terms of how it will be pursuit at your office because i think it's central and i remember working with you in the past on a number of questions. your views in mind coincide. but on this question of a big universal tariffs is brand-new ground it didn't exist in history and has the potential to do a lot of damage to the american people and the americae economy. you don't want that and i don't want that. thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you senator wyden and mr. greer again thank you to senator wyden indicated you been here for over threeee hours now and responded as you have in previous meetings with members

of the committee to their questions very well and i think you've done a phenomenally good job. you have shown that you are completely capable and qualified for this job.lo i look forward to working with and making sure we get your nomination confirmed as soon as possible. with that i'd like to remind my colleagues the deadline for submitting any questions for the record is 5:00 p.m. today and the finance committee will stand adjourned. [inaudible conversations]