On Tuesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) said that while the tariff moves on Monday are “still to be discerned. It strikes me that this could have been accomplished without the thunder.”
Co-host Kailey Leinz asked, “As we consider what we’ve seen play out with tariffs over the last several days, concessions extracted from Mexico and Canada, tariffs now in place on Chinese goods. We’ve heard Donald Trump talk about it in a few different ways, including balancing out trade, but also raising revenue. Have these moves in the last few days made it easier to figure out how exactly his tax cuts will be paid for?”
Neal answered, “Well, I thought that Lincoln addressed that question during the Civil War when we embraced an income tax as opposed to relying upon tariffs solely for the administration of the federal government, in addition to which, I think that what happened yesterday is still to be discerned. It strikes me that this could have been accomplished without the thunder. And I think that it’s also important to remind people that this argument that we’re having, we’re often having it with great friends of ours in recent American history. As you noted in your introduction, that NATO has been a fast friend of ours, the European Union has been a fast friend of ours, and Canada and Mexico are two of our largest trading partners in the world. So, I think we’re all dismayed with the threats that were made and then drawn back within a matter of hours.”
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