TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Delivers Remarks At Press Conference On The Impacts Of Trump’s Tariff Tax

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) alongside Senators Gillibrand (D-NY), Hirono (D-HI), and Kim (D-NJ) held a press conference to address President Trump driving up costs for American families and decimating seniors’ retirement funds with a nonsensical and ill-conceived trade war. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Leader Schumer: We were going to talk about the effect on people's IRAs and retirement, but the news that President Trump just made, we're going to do that, it's still an issue, but not today. We're going to talk about what just happened. So number one, let's be clear, Donald Trump is feeling the heat from Democrats and across America about how bad these tariffs are. He is reeling, he is retreating, and that is a good thing. We are going to continue to put the heat on him because there are still many damaging, much damaging tariffs in place. And we're going to continue to put that heat on him because the 10% across the board is still in place. The China tariffs are still in place. So point number two—point number one, he's feeling the heat, tremendous heat. And that heat is not going to be—we're not going to let up, and the American people are not going to let up because this is doing such damage to people's pocketbooks. Second, it's a partial retreat by Trump, but there's still a lot of damage that's in place and will happen to American consumers, even given what Trump said. But third, this is chaos. This is government by chaos. He keeps changing things from day to day. His advisors are fighting among themselves, calling each other names. And you cannot run a country with such chaos, with such unpredictability, with such lack of understanding of what's going on in the world and the facts.

When there's chaos, already damage is done, irretrievable damage is done, because of the chaos. Number one, businesses have stopped planning what they're going to do in the future. Many businesses are just putting everything on hold, the desire to hire a new worker or train a new worker, the desire to build a new plant, the desire to try a new product, all on hold. Because nobody knows what the heck is going to happen next, given the chaos of this administration. Consumers, we've seen consumer confidence plummet. And the bottom line is that consumers are holding tight because they don't know what the heck is going to happen. So this is just every day, it becomes worse and worse and worse in terms of the chaos, in terms of the unpredictability, and in terms of the logic. They keep changing their minds about what they're doing, why they're doing it, how they're doing it. And the only victim is the American public, American consumer, the American citizen, the American business.

So look, you can't undo the damage. The Trump slump is upon us now, and whatever he will try to do in the future does not undo the damage. This chaos seems to be just a game for Donald Trump, but it is really real, very real, for people's lives, people's livelihoods, people's retirements, people's income. Meanwhile, Trump seems to be playing a game of red light, green light. He's playing red light, green light with our economy. One day this, one day that. I have never seen such a chaotic administration action when it comes to something so vital and that affects everybody, everywhere. It's just unprecedented how bad this administration is. And as I said, the Trump slump is upon us and virtually nothing he can do can make the damage that's already been done go away.

Q&A

Reporter: Senator Schumer, the administration argues that these massive tariffs, tariffs that he announced, that he has now paused down to 10% have brought many countries to the table to negotiate lower trade barriers and that there will be positive results from this going forward?

Schumer: How can you believe anything they say when they change their opinion from hour to hour, day to day, week to week? I don't have any faith in the fact that this has been thought out, planned out, and will lead to any good result at all. Yes.

Reporter: Correct me If I am wrong, but I almost seems like you are at a loss for words. I know you mentioned chaos. Are you surprised at all about what Trump announced today?  

Schumer: We know that Donald Trump doesn't think things through. We know that whatever hits him for the moment he does. But on something so vital, like the whole economy of America, the amount of money people have in their pockets, in their livelihoods, on something as vital as this, yes, it leaves you agape at what he has— what he is doing and how much damage he is causing and how little he cares. He thinks it's a game. He almost thinks it's fun. Well, for 330 million Americans, this is not fun at all. Yes, ma'am.

Reporter: I have two questions for today's news. Trump said in the Rose Garden last week, he was doing this because no other president had taken advantage of the reciprocity. You've been in the Senate for much longer than President Trump has been the president. Do you think that there were missed opportunities from previous U.S. leaders—

Schumer: Well look, what previous leaders have done is nothing, whether you agree or disagree. It's not close. The damage that he has done here is just magnitudes worse than any other damage that's been done with tariffs, maybe since Smoot-Hawley. So it's incredible. Next.

Reporter: Continuing with the tariffs on China and that strategy of kind of trying to create some kind of balance in trade. Do you agree with that strategy at all?

Schumer: Look, there needs to be, when you have a tariff strategy, it needs to be pinpointed and focused. What is the goal? Who are you going after and how do you get the rest of the world to join us? What Trump has done is he has created a situation where the whole world's against us and everyone's furious at America and we're alone. The only way you can bring China to be fairer, and they are not, is by having you creating alliances and having the whole world focused on China instead of the whole world angry at America. Thank you, everybody.

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