Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) argued for tariffs at the lone vice presidential debate against Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), emphasizing that they protect American workers from cheap foreign labor.
Vance blasted Walz for attacking the Trump trade policies as a “national sales tax” when they actually protect American jobs and wages.
“I want to talk about this tariff issue, in particular, Margaret, because Tim just accused this of being a national sales tax,” Vance said. “Look, the one thing — you’re probably surprised to hear me praising Joe Biden — but the one thing that Joe Biden did is he continued some of the Trump tariffs that protected American manufacturing jobs.”
“It’s the one issue — the most pro-worker part of the Biden administration — it’s the one issue where Kamala Harris has run away from Joe Biden’s record,” he added.
Vance then used an example where tariffs could be used to safeguard against cheap labor in China that could undercut wages domestically.
“Think about this: If you’re trying to employ slave laborers in China at $3 a day, you’re going to do that and undercut the wages of American workers unless our country stands up for itself and says, ‘You’re not accessing our markets unless you’re paying middle-class Americans a fair wage,'” he said.
Another example of how tariffs could be used to protect American jobs came last week at a roundtable with farmers in Pennsylvania. Flanked by two Joh Deere tractors, Trump vowed a 200-percent tariff on all John Deere products imported from Mexico if the company moves manufacturing there.
C-SPAN“I’m just notifying John Deere right now: If you do that, we’re putting a 200-percent tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States,” Trump warned.
