Trump Witness CRUMBLES Under CROSS-EXAM at Hearings
MeidasTouch
Apr 10, 2025
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The MeidasTouch Podcast ... MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the scorching cross-examination of Donald Trump’s top Trade Representative Jamieson Greer by Senators and Members of Congress during two days of hearings.
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Transcript
- 0:00
- it did not go well for Donald Trump's
- top trade representative Jameson Greer
- who testified on Capitol Hill for two
- days under oath The first day before the
- United States Senate the second day
- before the House of Representatives he
- spent a day and a half justifying and
- making every excuse in the book for
- Donald Trump's tariffs against the world
- the cockamani formula using deficits to
- calculate reciprocal tariffs which
- weren't actually reciprocal tariffs
- Testifying under no circumstance ever
- and I mean ever will there be a pause on
- any of these tariffs We're all in If
- there's 10% inflation no pause If
- millions of jobs get lost no pause And
- then on day two of his testimony before
- the House of Representatives you
- literally see him getting a text message
- or a Google alert on his phone and he
- has this oh crap moment where he finds
- out that Donald Trump reversed course on
- 1:01
- every country other than China And then
- Donald Trump essentially paused all of
- the tariffs against the world Precisely
- what Jameson Greer testified would never
- happen And also because Jameson Greer's
- the top trade representative this would
- be like the decision that he makes or
- should be involved in And he was finding
- out that Donald Trump basically made a
- tweet or a social media post And on that
- basis the entire tariff policy shifted
- in a moment An entire realignment of
- United States trade policy took place
- and Jameson Greer the trade
- representative was finding out in the
- hearing This is the chaos of the Trump
- regime So then naturally on day two the
- Democrats pounced and they were asking
- uh trade representative Greer you didn't
- know about that You've just spent two
- days testifying this would never happen
- 2:00
- and now that's happening Explain that to
- us And Jameson Greer's like 'Oh well I
- I'm reading the post and I think that
- this is actually really smart.' Because
- there's no depths to the excuses and
- depravity that uh they won't justify uh
- when it comes to uh Donald Trump So
- let's talk about what went down So first
- you have Democratic Senator Mark Warner
- This is day one when Greer's before the
- Senate and Senator Mark Warner just goes
- off on Jameson Greer saying 'Why the
- hell are you why the hell are you
- tariffing Australia our ally when
- there's a surplus that we have in trade
- with Australia That makes no sense under
- your cockamani Greek formula.' Play this
- clip There is a trade We already have a
- free trade agreement We have a trade
- surplus So getting the least bad Why did
- they get whacked in the first place
- We're addressing the $1.2 trillion
- deficit the largest in human history
- 3:00
- that President Biden left us with We
- should be running up the score in
- Australia Answer the question on
- Australia We have a trade surplus with
- Australia We have a free trade agreement
- Why They are incredibly important
- national security partner Why were they
- whacked with a tariff Senator despite
- the agreement they ban our beef They ban
- our pork They're getting ready to impose
- measures on our with your Greek letter
- formula The fact that we have a trade
- surplus
- We have a global tariff on every We're
- trying to address the $1.2 trillion that
- Biden left us with I think that answer
- sir you are a much smarter person than
- that answer The idea that we are going
- to whack friend and foe
- alike and particularly friends with this
- level is both I think insulting the
- Australians undermines our national
- security and frankly makes us not a good
- partner going forward The lack of trust
- from friends and allies based
- upon this ridiculous policy that goes
- 4:02
- into full effect at midnight
- tonight is extraordinary Next you have
- Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan and she
- says to uh Jameson Greer 'What if uh
- inflation was 10% Would you still keep
- these tariffs on?' Here play this clip
- Sales tax is increasing prices for
- families It's also causing huge losses
- in Americans retirement savings
- Ambassador Greer would the
- administration reverse course if the
- president's tariffs led to 10% inflation
- Senator the the president is fixed in
- his purpose This this trade deficit and
- the offshoring and loss of manufacturing
- jobs is something that's persisted for
- too long and it and it's dangerous I
- understand your justification for the
- policy uh even though there are some
- very contradictory justifications coming
- out of the administration But my
- question is what's the inflation rate uh
- where you guys would reverse course um
- 10% inflation that I just asked you
- 5:01
- about that is higher inflation than we
- saw at the peak of the COVID economic
- crisis But you aren't going to say here
- today that you would reverse course even
- if you created inflation as high as we
- had at the peak of the COVID economic
- crisis I think the most serious
- inflation we saw was on was during the
- Biden administration when we did tariffs
- in the first term Inflation went down I
- I just don't it's it's not going to be a
- onetoone inflation about how much money
- you're putting into the supply Let's
- just be really clear that the Trump
- administration is here today to say that
- even if inflation hits Americans
- pocketbooks at 10% because of these
- tariffs um then the Trump administration
- is still going to go charging ahead So
- Ambassador would the administration
- reverse course if the president's
- tariffs caused a 50% stock market crash
- which would hurt Americans retirement
- savings even more than they've been hurt
- in the last 10 days or so
- Senator the the fundamentals of the
- economy are so strong We had 228,000
- jobs last month uh we have you know
- 6:02
- 9,000 additional manufacturing jobs from
- So again your your answer is even if the
- stock market crashes 50% which is how
- much the stock market crashed in the
- great recession you're not going to say
- here today that you would reverse course
- even if you crashed the stock market and
- harm retirement savings as drastically
- as happened during the great recession
- in 2007 Senator your hypotheticals are
- are not consistent with the history
- we've seen with the use of tax My
- hypotheticals are based on the fact that
- a lot of Americans are looking at their
- 401ks today and wondering uh how much of
- a lifestyle change uh they are going to
- have to have or whether they're going to
- be able to retire when they plan to
- because of the recklessness and
- haphazard nature of the Trump
- administration's imposition of tariffs
- Nothing was thought out about this This
- has been a haphazard incompetent effort
- and it's showing Thank you Mr Chair Next
- up you have Democratic Senator Cortez
- 7:00
- Mastro and here she talks about what are
- you doing to impact the negative impact
- on international tourism right now What
- are you doing to deal with that Here
- play this clip The whole sentence about
- what are you doing about the impact of
- international tourism and and now these
- blanket tariffs having a negative impact
- What what are you doing to address that
- The whole sentence senator said that we
- need to get away from government
- spending as funding our economy and
- financialization and we need to move to
- real goods and services including the
- tourism you're talking about What are
- you doing to impact the negative impact
- of tourism right now Well one thing I'll
- say is we can't have the status quo
- right I keep hearing that we should have
- essentially what I'm hearing is we
- should have the status quo We should
- keep the $ 1.2 trillion trade deficit
- that Biden left us with asking you what
- are you doing in this administration to
- address now the impact that you're
- having with these blanket tariffs not
- targeted tariffs blanket tariffs on
- international tourism that is a big
- impact to our economy What are you doing
- to address that Well Senator as we're
- 8:01
- talking to all of these countries we are
- talking about services We are talking
- about making sure that you know we can
- export services to other countries A lot
- of those that we export are you know we
- say I only have so much time and
- apparently you're not So here's what I
- would like because you haven't thought
- about this and the administration hasn't
- really thought about it because I
- haven't heard anybody talking about
- tourism So why don't you come talk to me
- in my office and let's talk about and
- put a plan together because these
- blanket tariffs are having an impact on
- on tourism in this in in my state and
- across the country I'm happy Instead of
- just defending it why don't you just
- come sit down with some of us and try to
- address the concerns that we are seeing
- and feeling in our states that this
- administration has not taken into
- account I'm happy to come speak with you
- Thank you Senator Next up you have
- Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren
- saying 'Okay so what you're saying is
- that if 700,000 a million Americans lose
- their jobs you're going to keep these
- 9:00
- tariffs You're going to support them.'
- Play this clip Ambassador Greer we lost
- 700,000 jobs each month in the last
- recession If
- 700,000 Americans lose their jobs will
- the Trump administration suspend these
- tariffs
- Senator I think the the economists who
- are making these projections who often
- are are in favor of fully unfettered
- free trade are the same ones who said in
- the first Trump term that
- Mr Let me just stop you there I'm not
- asking about projections I'm asking if
- the numbers show that 700,000 people
- have lost their jobs because of these
- new tariffs that Trump has slapped on
- Will the administration reverse course
- and lift those tariffs Senator that's
- not going to happen We've lost 5 million
- manufacturing jobs over the years which
- is the number I'm most worried about and
- we have to get those jobs So I take that
- as a no Next up you have Democratic
- 10:00
- Congress member Lloyd Dogget Um and here
- he really kind of just drives home this
- point to Jameson Greer about the way our
- economy functioned for 50 years and why
- America was benefiting under the trade
- policy as it always existed Play this
- clip That the United States has run
- trade deficits for 48 straight years
- during which time the US economy has
- grown by 255% in real terms that these
- decades of trade deficits have
- corresponded with increases in American
- wealth and household incomes that far
- exceed the progress in Canada China and
- the European Union Uh do you think that
- this growth in American wealth as a
- result uh associated with deficits uh is
- something that constitutes an a national
- emergency The giant and massive
- persistent trade deficit that Biden left
- us with is an emergency It's not like
- the small deficits from the 60s when we
- had auto workers here making production
- We've offshored all this stuff uh Mr
- 11:00
- Dogga and and we are really in an
- emergency situation My time uh we seem
- to have done much better than in the
- guilded age which the president prefers
- I would just say that on the eve of his
- inauguration the president promised to
- bring prices drastically down And
- there's nothing that you have said in
- your answers or non-answers to me today
- that will give Americans any assurance
- to believe anything other than that
- their prices will continue to soar and
- their savings will continue to shrink
- The president's lies continue to cause
- the American cost the American people
- dearly I yield back Going back to
- Democratic Senator Cortez Mastro watch
- this Be intellectually honest Now let me
- just ask this because this is also true
- Um and I I so appreciate my Senator
- Langford asking this Time matters How
- long did it take negotiate that
- agreement the USMCA that you were part
- of We did it at break speed We did in
- about two years Two years And now you're
- telling us you have nearly 50 countries
- coming to you approaching you to enter
- 12:00
- in negotiation And you think that you
- can do that overnight India Man you you
- you're pretty superhuman here if that's
- the case So let's be realistic That's
- all we're asking Common sense Then you
- have Democratic Senator Canwell Here she
- is a Washington state senator Play this
- clip Questions for members But you can
- see all my colleagues we are thoughtful
- people with specific issues about our
- constituencies I just met with raspberry
- growers They're concerned They want to
- know if they're going to get an some you
- know seat on a council so they can have
- their issues heard I'm for trade I
- represent trade I represent a trade
- economy I represent the success of what
- innovation and trade get you But you're
- coming here this morning with this not
- only tanking of the market and 401's now
- you're coming here telling me that
- tariff is the tool and I'm telling you
- innovation is the tool You're telling us
- in your testimony you want a tariff on
- semiconductors I'm saying that the last
- administration and this organization
- 13:00
- here passed the chips and science act so
- we could reshore tariff so we could
- reshore semiconductors here in the
- United States So you're not going to win
- the innovation economy by tariffing
- semiconductors and reshoring that I
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- up on day two you have Democratic
- Congress member Tom Suazi right here
- 15:01
- Here's what he's got to say Play this
- clip I feel like you're in a very bad
- position here this whole idea that this
- president made this switcheroo on you
- while you're in the middle of testifying
- here today I feel I actually feel bad
- for you No I I but I really feel bad for
- the American people that are seeing
- these things happen There's no plan I
- mean that's my big concern I know
- there's goals I want to see
- manufacturing brought back to America Or
- at least I want to see jobs that pay
- more money so we can rebuild our middle
- class in America I'm I'm for that I'm
- for holding China accountable and
- holding our adversaries accountable I'm
- for tariffs in in select specific places
- but right now there's no All we know is
- prices are going up We're pissing off
- our allies and the stock market went
- down dramatically It's gone up
- dramatically today The market
- manipulation question by Mr Horford is a
- very real concern that we're going to
- have to dig into a little bit Who's
- benefiting from these wild fluctuations
- down wild fluctuation up We're still way
- 16:00
- down
- We need a plan to accomplish the
- objectives that I know that you
- genuinely believe in which is to try and
- recreate the middle class here in the
- United States of America That on my side
- of the aisle we all believe in that we
- have to recreate the middle class in
- America And he's so right just flipping
- the policy Did you even know Jameson
- Greer anything about this And uh
- Democratic Congress member Steven
- Horseford brings the point home as well
- Let's play this clip Uh Mr trade uh
- representative Are you aware that the
- tariffs have been paused
- I am Yes When when when were you made
- aware of that Well I understood the
- decision was made a few minutes ago in
- some sitting here and under discussion
- Sitting here under discussion So did you
- know that the that this was under
- discussion And why did you not include
- that as part of your opening remarks So
- typically what I don't do is dulge the
- contents of my discussions What are the
- details of the pause Well my
- understanding is that uh because so many
- countries have decided not to retaliate
- 17:00
- we're going to have about 90 days No
- excuse me You you we are the China
- increased their tariffs on the United
- States Trump blinked
- What's the blink Sir
- what do you know about this pause What
- are the details of it Well the details
- as I understand it is that China
- continues to retaliate Other countries
- didn't retaliate The president two or
- three days ago said we wanted to
- negotiate with those countries that
- asked for that asked for meetings That's
- what we're doing What are the details
- How long is the pause How many days How
- many weeks I I understand it's 90 days I
- haven't spoken to the president since
- I've been So the trade representative
- hasn't spoken to the president of the
- United States about a global reordering
- of trade
- Yes I have I've just been in the hearing
- with you But yet he announced it on a
- tweet WTF Who's in charge Going back to
- day one here's Senator Bernie Sanders uh
- 18:00
- also pointing out to Jame Greer like you
- guys lie about everything You're saying
- that Canada is causing the fentinol
- issues in the United States Like why why
- you have to to assuming you even want to
- do these tariffs Why does everything
- every freaking word got to be a lie
- Senator Bernie Sanders with the win
- right here Play this clip Uh President
- Trump said uh Mr Greer that he had no
- choice in terms of Canada and I live 50
- miles away from the Canadian border He
- had no choice but to bypass Congress and
- to impose an emergency 25% tariff on
- Canada to stop quote the massive end
- quote amount of fentanyl and quote the
- millions and millions of undocumented
- immigrants coming from the northern
- border Uh unfortunately that's a lie Uh
- the truth is that the US Customs and
- Border Protection reported just 43
- pounds of fentanyl were seized at the
- Canadian border last year representing
- 19:01
- just 2/10en of 1% of the total Further
- he said among uh he talked about
- millions and millions of undocked
- immigrants coming from Canada In fact
- last year there were 24,000 people not
- millions and millions First question
- really we can argue about tariffs but
- why does the president have to lie all
- of the time in order to make his point
- So Senator I I would I would just refute
- that when the president is talking about
- the nature of the emergency we have I
- mean can you talk a little bit closer to
- the mic please Certainly Uh Senator I
- would just say you know I think you need
- to look at at at what the president
- issued in terms of the order for the
- legal basis for for what we're doing
- right I mean the president very rightly
- hit on this issue of fentanyl migration
- coming from northern southern borders
- and it's a real emergency All drugs are
- a real emergency Two ten of
- 1% you can then argue drugs illegal
- drugs come from every country in the
- world If you declare that as an
- emergency you're giving the president of
- the United States unbelievable power And
- 20:00
- let me give some credit here to
- Republican Senator Tom Tillis from North
- Carolina Although he knows he's going to
- be heading into a difficult S Senate
- race So he's doing this for a reason
- Let's be very clear Um and so here is
- North Carolina Republican Tillis
- questioning uh the US trade
- representative Jameson Greer um on Trump
- strategy This was of course before Trump
- changed course within 24 hours Play this
- clip I'm not a trade expert and I'm not
- going to question it at this point I do
- have a question about at the end of the
- day the other thing in management
- consulting we we um we like to focus on
- is this concept of one throat to choke
- In other words when you're finally
- taking a look at a strategy someone has
- to own it and you can't say that it's
- the president or the vice president So
- my first question to you in this
- scenario the decision maker who decided
- the all prima approach who has obviously
- had to have spent time anticipating what
- 21:00
- we saw in the markets and some of the
- push back I'm I'm assuming this all got
- gamed out Uh because because it's a
- novel approach it needed to be thought
- out Whose throat do I get to choke if
- this proves to be wrong Well Senator you
- can certainly always talk to me but I
- But are you at the tip of the spear Uh
- well I'm at the tip of the spear for
- certainly Did you propose the all prima
- approach So first of all I would push
- back senator just a little bit on this
- Uh we've for now we've excluded
- pharmaceuticals and semiconductors We
- take a different kind of approach and
- we've excluded USMC section 232 and 301
- We know particularly uh section 232 is
- still in aluminum Section 301 is Chinese
- imports where there's no other uh
- provider I I I overheard you say that
- maybe I thought I heard you say in
- response to another question that for
- the near term there won't be any
- exclusions Is that true of China where
- they have said the US is unilaterally
- bullying and completely groundless and
- they're going to fight to the end Are
- the 232 and 301 tariffs uh exclusions on
- 22:03
- the shelves until we get to a reasonable
- agreement with China I'm just trying to
- answer a question that I have several
- people in North Carolina asking So so
- the president again is the final
- decision maker on all of these things
- and he has directed that there not be
- exclusions or there will not be any
- exclusions on steel aluminum or any
- products that are only manufactured in
- China for the foreseeable future until
- China determines what the end is because
- they said they're going to fight to the
- end Again I'm just trying to communicate
- questions that I've asked So there will
- be no exclusions I won't waste your time
- asking for them That's the main reason I
- wanted to ask the question So again I'm
- just trying to get my head around the
- logic of an olive prima approach and I'm
- waiting to be I'm I'm waiting to see it
- be successful But it just seems like
- we've decided to begin a trade war on
- all fronts And that's okay if the person
- who thought this through has an answer
- for why you go after partners u that we
- 23:03
- have a very long story relationship with
- I've been seeing memes like this all day
- MAGA economics You see that the economy
- without tariffs doing much better the
- economy with tariffs much lower but then
- all the MAGA people are like 'See
- tariffs work?' So wait are tariffs
- either the the greatest thing But then
- you say that the fact that tariffs are
- withdrawn that's the greatest thing I
- mean didn't you all say that tariffs are
- going to make everybody super rich and
- be great Y'all removed the tariffs There
- there's no consistency with this at all
- Um you take a look right here as uh Dave
- Whamman posts 'Trump gets no concessions
- Art of the deal I destroyed the go the
- global markets and all I got was this
- lousy t-shirt.' It should be noted too
- that while all of this is going on aided
- and embedded by the Republicans in the
- Senate but the MAGA Republicans in the
- House of Representatives um all but
- three House Republicans voted for the
- 24:00
- Trump tariffs The procedural measure as
- Aaron Fishner writes which preemptively
- surrenders congressional power to stop
- Trump tariffs passed with all Democrats
- voting no Every Democrat voted no for
- this You see the vote count here These
- uh MAGA Republican senators supporting
- it So here's how they procedurally
- engineered and rigged this thing so that
- there can never even be a vote on uh on
- tariffs and Congress actually claiming
- its power So here's Congress taking away
- its own power This is what the MAGA
- Republicans wrote into the budget You
- ready Each day during the period from
- April 9th 2025 through September 30th
- 2025 shall not constitute a calendar day
- for purposes of section 202 of the
- National Emergencies Act with respect to
- a joint resolution terminating a
- national emergency declared by the
- president on April 2nd 2025 So what that
- 25:00
- language means is that there's going to
- be they're not going to even allow a day
- to be counted for the issue to be
- brought up because they're saying the
- day doesn't even exist where they can
- even talk about
- tariffs If you want to talk about
- kissing the ring think about what the
- MAGA Republicans did just there By the
- way how embarrassing for Jame Greer what
- went down there We'll keep keep you
- posted every step of the way I just
- wanted to give you the full context of
- that hearing Hit subscribe Let's get to
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