WASHINGTON—Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) defended President Donald Trump’s 104 percent total tariffs that will be imposed on Chinese imports at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday.
“Three out of five rows of beans go to China,” Van Orden told The Epoch Times. “We have to—we are in the process of changing the global trade markets, and our farmers will be made whole.”
When asked how long farmers can bear out the impacts, Van Orden said they “were made whole in 2018, and we’re still in business.”
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) said he thinks China is going to find itself increasingly isolated if the regime doesn’t negotiate.
“I know only results, that’s what I want to see. I want to see zero-zero tariffs for everybody,” he told The Epoch Times. “We could all have free trade and actually benefit from that.
“And less tax, less government, less regulation, and more benefit for the people,” he added. “Then everybody wins.”
McCormick said China needs the U.S. market more when asked how long consumers can handle Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese imports.
“They’re going to suffer way more from this than we are in a trade war,” he said. “They need us now. We need them too, [but] they need us more.
“And if they’re the only ones mistreating us in tariff wars, whose fault is it?”
McCormick criticized China for having protectionist trade policies that “benefit themselves and harm everybody else.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said the objective of Trump’s tariffs is to “negotiate actual fair trade agreements.”
“And force these other countries that have repeatedly put in place tariffs, barriers to entry, and price controls on U.S. goods and products” to negotiate, Lawler told The Epoch Times.
“Ultimately, you’re starting to see countries make concessions and want to negotiate with the administration.”
By Arjun Singh and Jacob Burg
