▶ 0:18:28Chair Moran: Thank you for joining us. I expect we may have a few more senators arrive. The committee will come to order for purposes of an oversight hearing with the office of the united states trade representative.
▶ 0:18:50Chair Moran: I welcome our witness, our witness has been a willing witness for a number of cases and government is back open and the ambassadors in the united states, we appreciate his willingness to testify before the subcommittee on what I think is a really critical topic for economic and national security. I appreciate the administration's goal of addressing the trade deficit and ensure U.S.
▶ 0:19:16Chair Moran: Farmers, workers, and manufacturers compete on a level playing field. American tariffs are often met with reciprocal tariffs and we have seen them force other countries to seek new markets and close their doors to the U.S. economy entirely. Kansas farmers watched buyers turn to other countries and fear those markets may not return. As harvest season is moving to a close, commodities have piled up with no place to send them.
▶ 0:19:46Chair Moran: Ambassador, I show your predecessor of grain sorghum -- I used to show your predecessor pictures of grain sorghum that there was no market to export. At a time when the cost of production is high and prices are low, it is a hard time for farmers across the country to see if there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
▶ 0:20:13Chair Moran: It is important to recognize that progress is being made by our trade negotiations and those under discussion provide meaningful incentives to buy U.S.-made products including bilateral agreements with the eu and u.k. Expanding market access for various industries, including agriculture, biofuels, aerospace products important in our state.
▶ 0:20:38Chair Moran: Respective deals across asia will result in direct foreign investment for american communities. I appreciate your efforts, ambassador to eliminate civil aviation parts and components tariffs.
▶ 0:21:01Chair Moran: This is important for the united states to maintain its dominance allowing kansas, the air capital of the world, to increase its surplus. President trump was able to bring canada and mexico to result in significant benefits for workers and businesses. Many of the deals seem to be a preliminary stages.
▶ 0:21:35Chair Moran: We hope there is a swift finalization. While we see meaningful progress service to work to be done to ensure the U.S. remain the world's largest economy and a leading global exporter. Ustr is requesting its largest budget and agency history.
▶ 0:22:03Chair Moran: Ambassador, this is an appropriations hearing and anything you would like to tell us about would be appreciated. Thank you for your testimony today and I look forward to hearing about the outlook of trade negotiations. Senator van hollen, I know recognize he was the ranking member.
▶ 0:22:29Sen. Van Hollen: Welcome, ambassador greer. I look forward to our conversation about president trump straight tariffs. I support fair trade that protects american workers and benefits american consumers. The U.S. economy is the strongest and largest in the world and we need access to foreign markets.
▶ 0:22:55Sen. Van Hollen: I support tariffs when they are judiciously targeted and applied to address unfair labor and trade practices. Congress has provided a number of authorities to levy such tariffs but the international emergency economic powers act is not one of them. I believe the ieepa tariffs are illegal and unconstitutional and I'm hoping the supreme court will overturn the president's decision.
▶ 0:23:25Sen. Van Hollen: The cost to consumers from this administration's trade wars cannot be ignored. Families are paying higher prices for everyday necessities from groceries to clothing to home goods because of the trump tariffs. President trump acknowledged this risk himself months ago when he said american kids might have to have two dolls instead of 30 dolls.
▶ 0:23:46Sen. Van Hollen: I don't know what family other than the trump family and some others can provide $30 to their kid, but that was an admission to the president -- by the president about the impact of cost on those policies. The administration lifted the tariffs on staples including beef, coffee, and bananas. The affordability crisis is not some kind of democratic hopes.
▶ 0:24:15Sen. Van Hollen: Tell that to people around maryland and the country. According to an estimate from the yale budget lab, tariffs could cost the average family $4900 a year. My constituents have reported to me that the staples for thanksgiving dinner were 10% higher.
▶ 0:24:44Sen. Van Hollen: The trump tariffs have created a system for businesses that is unpredictable, inconsistent and ultimately harmful to american interests despite the administration's rhetoric supporting manufacturing, we have shed 78,000 manufacturing jobs this year.
▶ 0:25:00Sen. Van Hollen: We are seeing an emerging pattern where large, well-connected companies are cutting special, lucrative deals for themselves while small and medium-size businesses are left to navigate an arbitrary system they cannot afford to influence. In other words, two sets of rules, one for the well-connected that can give expensive gifts to the president and others that can't.
▶ 0:25:28Sen. Van Hollen: Prince is awesome is a silver spring, maryland children's clothing provider who visited my office who have been forced to put tariff bills on credit cards. Their primary import, textiles, is not comparably produced in the united states, so they can't pivot to purchasing from U.S. supplier and they have been left with no choice but to go into debt or close up shop and that is one of many maryland stories.
▶ 0:25:59Sen. Van Hollen: Of course in addition, the unpredictability of the trade policies has hurt and paralyzed many businesses. Companies don't know what tariffs will be from one day to the next, making it impossible to make hiring and investment decisions with any kind of certainty. That is bad policy hurting small and medium-sized businesses and the workers they support. It is not just that this approach is failing.
▶ 0:26:29Sen. Van Hollen: As the chairman mentioned, in addition to increasing input costs for american manufacturers, we are also seeing retaliation. From china when it comes to agricultural exports and donald trump's first term, we had a $28 billion bailout. I announced -- then we announced a $12 billion bailout.
▶ 0:26:55Sen. Van Hollen: Soybean farmers don't want the bailout, they want to be able to sell their products as they have been before the latest trade war began. So, Mr. ambassador, americans are paying higher prices, some are losing jobs, some businesses are going under and at the end of the day, taxpayers are asked to foot the bill for some of these misguided policies. I look forward to the conversation, thank you Mr. chairman for calling this hearing and I look forward to questions.
▶ 0:27:22Chair Moran: Thank you, senator van hollen. Acknowledge the committee chairwoman and we are honored by your presence. Ambassador, we are ready to hear your testimony, please proceed.
▶ 0:27:37Ambassador Greer: As you know, I lived in kansas as a young air force captain, senator van hollen, 11 maryland now, so I'm one of your constituents. I'm glad we are able to gather for this hearing after trying to schedule it for some time. I will focus my remarks on the successful reciprocal trade negotiations and the resources to carry out our mission in 2026.
▶ 0:28:06Ambassador Greer: I would say there has been a larger turn on investment that U.S. exporters and workers have been thinking for decades. Many would like to have the prior status quo of the biden administration, skyhigh historic inflation in no access to get market access anywhere. That is not president trump's goal. He ran partially on tariffs and correcting the U.S.
▶ 0:28:35Ambassador Greer: Trade deficit and he won on that platform. President trump imposed reciprocal tariffs in response to the national emergency caused by the trade deficit which was $1 trillion in debt increased by 40% and we have lost and continue to lose manufacturing capacity that supports our workers and families in
▶ 0:29:08Ambassador Greer: Safeguards national security. The president pause those tariffs and we renegotiated with trade partners. For a variety of agricultural goods into the eu.
▶ 0:29:32Ambassador Greer: The president renegotiated and the structure that came out absent the reciprocal trade deal have a 10% rate. Countries where we have a small trade deficit have a 15% rate and the larger offenders have higher rates. Throughout the fall, the president announced more trade deals with korea, vietnam, thailand.
▶ 0:30:02Ambassador Greer: We signed with malaysia and cambodia. Cambodia has reduced all of its tariffs for U.S. goods. Since returning, the president has returned framework deals with el salvador, guatemala, ecuador, demonstrating a strategic approach expansive new market access and economic national security for our partners in our own backyard. Just last week, we send a permanent agreement with israel.
▶ 0:30:34Ambassador Greer: One that previously required annual recertification in this deal guarantees us permanent duty access to that market. It strengthens our ties with our ally. These agreements are achieving long-standing U.S. trade priorities. Eight countries have committed to ensure market access for current and future U.S.
▶ 0:30:57Ambassador Greer: Producers using certain meat and cheese even though the eu is going around the world trying to prevent countries from using U.S. meat and cheese exports. We have also received strong commitment to enhance ip protection, enhance environmental standards.
▶ 0:31:30Ambassador Greer: We are working with china and we have been and continue talks. China has not always been a reliable partner, to say the least. President trump has been in discussions with the chinese. We continue to maintain leverage on the chinese in the way of tariffs.
▶ 0:32:00Ambassador Greer: In all of this is on the agreement that china maintain its agreements. I expect we will send more trade deals over the coming weeks. It wouldn't be possible without the talented career officials in my office.
▶ 0:32:30Ambassador Greer: Even though despite having limited resources and support and facing shutdowns and other things, they have been quite tenacious. President trump has requested the ustr increase $70 million. $21 million increase over fiscal year 2025. Our budget has been flat for five years and it is high time to deliver.
▶ 0:33:07Ambassador Greer: I'm happy to answer questions this afternoon.
▶ 0:33:08Chair Moran: Ambassador, let me turn to the first set of questions to senator collins.
▶ 0:33:17Senator Collins: I want to express my appreciation for you holding this important hearing. Ambassador, welcome. It is good to see you again. I appreciate the many discussions that we have had on tariffs and the impact on the people of maine and some of our most iconic industries. Maine and canada's economies are so intertwined.
▶ 0:33:48Senator Collins: Maine potatoes, blueberries, lobster, lumber are produced in maine but often shipped across the border for processing and come back over.
▶ 0:34:01Senator Collins: Under the usmca a lot of those products are exempt, including the pulp produced in a canadian mill literally across the river from a paper mill in northern maine.
▶ 0:34:20Senator Collins: That mill supports more than 500 direct jobs so it is important we have that exemption assess. I know the agreement is under review and I will express my hope that you will keep in mind how important the exemptions are to the functioning of many of
▶ 0:34:52Senator Collins: Maine's most important industries. I want to ask you about the steel and aluminum section 232 tariffs. The 50% tariff imported on steel and aluminum is affecting the lobster industry and the blueberries industry.
▶ 0:35:20Senator Collins: I recently wrote to you and secretary lutnick highlighting the need for relief for these important sectors. The tariff has increased costs for essential equipment the blueberry industry, which has had a terrible year including an overly rainy spring and then a drought during the summer season is now forced to pay increased
▶ 0:35:53Senator Collins: Costs on critical harvesting and mowing equipment. The commerce department terminated the process for section 232 that was a potential path for relief for these two critical sectors in our economy.
▶ 0:36:18Senator Collins: Could you talk about whether you are revisiting the specific hardships imposed by these 50% tariff? For example the sharp knives used for certain mowing equipment for blueberries are available only in canada. It is not as if there is a distributor in maine or other places that can fill the need for blueberry growers.
▶ 0:36:48Senator Collins: Please reopening the exclusions process under consideration?
▶ 0:36:50Amb. Greer: Thank you, senator. I perceive the conversations we have had. I'm always glad to hear feedback on the president's programs. Section 232 is a commerce department program so I don't control how that is operated however I'm happy to raise that the sec. Lutnick.
▶ 0:37:14Amb. Greer: We will regularly hear from domestic producers who are having a large benefit from the program but we also hear at times from folks who will come and discuss the effects of the steel and aluminum tariffs and the derivatives program is something or folks are trying to understand and relate your views to him.
▶ 0:37:39Sen. Collins: Thank you. There is the second issue I want to raise. In october, ustr announced a trade framework with vietnam which maintained a 20% reciprocal tariff and also saw the zero rate it is especially
▶ 0:38:16Sen. Collins: Important for maine businesses like l.l. Bean, an historic family-owned business that maintains some operations in vietnam. It would not have anticipated that vietnam would be the subject of such a high tariff.
▶ 0:38:44Sen. Collins: Has the administration identified a list of products that will receive this zero product tariff rate or a process for determining which products will receive the more favorable return?
▶ 0:39:01Amb. Greer: Thank you, senator. As a baseline in early september, the president identified a list of products that cannot be grown or physically obtained when the united states. He identified those in september as the types of goods or he would provide a 0% reciprocal tariff rate to countries once a conclude their agreements.
▶ 0:39:29Amb. Greer: That listed november captures the general universe of what might be there and this is really agricultural products are camping grown in the U.S. or minerals not present in united states so that is where we are right now without. The final details with that are being finalized.
▶ 0:39:59Sen. Collins: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:40:00Chair Moran: Senator van hollen.
▶ 0:40:03Senator Van Hollen: A question about the connection between trade policy and national security policy. You would agree we should not compromise our national security interests as part of a trade agreement, you agree with that?
▶ 0:40:17Amb. Greer: Certainly, yes, sir.
▶ 0:40:19Sen. Van Hollen: So I want to talk you about the affiliates rule. Are you familiar with that?
▶ 0:40:25Amb. Greer: I am.
▶ 0:40:26Sen. Van Hollen: This was a rule announced by the administration earlier this year to try to close the loophole with respect to the entities list. The entities list big companies that we say U.S. companies may not export certain types of goods to because they pose a national security risk, right?
▶ 0:40:44Amb. Greer: It is about affiliates and how you determine who is on the list.
▶ 0:40:51Sen. Van Hollen: Right, so this was an effort to close the loophole, right? Let's say huawei is on the entity list but it creates a subsidiary that is not on the list, the idea was to close the loophole to make sure it is an effective policy.
▶ 0:41:05Amb. Greer: You can close it by just identifying the subsidiary.
▶ 0:41:13Sen. Van Hollen: But this changed it. This has been in progress under the previous administration and I'm glad the current administration continued it. But the president in his meeting with president xi in south korea decided to postpone the implementation of the affiliates rule, isn't that right?
▶ 0:41:33Amb. Greer: It applies globally to everybody and it was caused globally for everybody.
▶ 0:41:38Sen. Van Hollen: But he announced that at his meeting with xi.
▶ 0:41:41Amb. Greer: That's correct.
▶ 0:41:43Sen. Van Hollen: That is when the head of nvidia flew over to the meeting. He was in south korea at the same time, correct?
▶ 0:41:50Amb. Greer: I don't know. The ceo of nvidia was not in the pre-briefing.
▶ 0:41:55Sen. Van Hollen: The commerce department described this affiliates rule, closing this loophole as a vital tool for our national security. Would you agree with that?
▶ 0:42:05Amb. Greer: I think it would be helpful. Congress did not included in 2018. For 40 years we didn't have that, we thought it could be a good idea.
▶ 0:42:16Sen. Van Hollen: I do too and it has been a work in progress. I supported many of the steps the trump administration took with regard to the entities list, the biden administration went further and this was the next step. It seems to have been traded away in the meeting with president xi. What did we get for that?
▶ 0:42:37Amb. Greer: On october 9, the chinese announced they were going to control all rare earth materials anywhere in the world. If there was 0.1 percent product that contained rare earth mined in china, they would want to approve it. If tsmc made a chip in china -- arizona, china would have to approve it. This threatens our entire supply chain.
▶ 0:43:07Amb. Greer: For years, the united states, business and policy makers have not solved the rare earths problem. We are in a situation where we are trying to re-industrialize and we want to get along with china. We want to get rare earth's from china and re-industrialize. We want to try to have good trade relations with china so it makes total sense to try to have good relations with china rather than blow up --
▶ 0:43:32Sen. Van Hollen: Right have seen some of your interviews and I agree with you that there is no reason to have bad relations where it is not necessary, but obviously we want to protect our national security and in my view this was a big mistake. We can argue about this but china only took those actions after we got into this trade war with china. Let me ask you about another rule that was waived by the trump administration, the diffusion role. Are you familiar with that one?
▶ 0:44:01Amb. Greer: I have some familiarity with the biden era diffusion role.
▶ 0:44:05Sen. Van Hollen: The biden era had a diffusion role where there are certain countries where if we send them the highest technology that could fall into the hands of our adversaries, like china would be on a list. Right?
▶ 0:44:17Amb. Greer: Yes, they are currently on the country group.
▶ 0:44:21Sen. Van Hollen: And the uae was one of those countries the biden administration had applied the diffusion rule to. And yet the trump administration, just as the president was leaving for his trip, decided to left the diffusion role with respect to the uae, right?
▶ 0:44:38Amb. Greer: Again, it is commerce department, but the ai diffusion role was lifted for the world.
▶ 0:44:47Sen. Van Hollen: But he announced it at the same time he said the united states would allow chips to go to a uae company.
▶ 0:44:59Amb. Greer: I don't know all the timing.
▶ 0:45:01Sen. Van Hollen: Well it was. It was a few weeks before that the president's son eric trump was in the uae and did a deal with mtx.
▶ 0:45:09Amb. Greer: I'm not familiar with mgx.
▶ 0:45:12Sen. Van Hollen: It is important to know and I know senator merkley and senator warren sent you a letter on this in your capacity as oge, but the reality is that a company called mgx provided investment of about $2 billion into the trump family crypto coin business, which hugely increase the value of that.
▶ 0:45:37Sen. Van Hollen: At the same time that president trump gave g 42 a sweetheart deal transferring U.S. high-end technology. It turns out, Mr. ambassador, that the head of and the head of g 42 and the head of mgx is the same person. He is a very good businessman and obviously got a very good deal with the president of the united states. Mr. chairman I will pursue some of this more in later questions.
▶ 0:46:04Chair Moran: Senator kennedy. Senator cantwell. I am. >> [indiscernible]
▶ 0:46:12Chair Moran: You've only got four minutes left. [laughter] >> [indiscernible]
▶ 0:46:24Amb. Greer: We understand that -- >> [indiscernible]
▶ 0:46:29Amb. Greer: It is the african growth and opportunity act that has been in place for 20 years and gives duty-free trade to african countries unilaterally. Over the past 20 years we have seen frankly china move into africa, so it makes you wonder if it is functioning how it should. It expired recently. I've heard from a lot of members of congress that they want to see it renewed.
▶ 0:46:58Amb. Greer: The administration is open to a one-year clean reauthorization and we should take that year to improve it and make it better rather than just being a giveaway. Is there a way to have enhanced bilateral trade, more export access, can we deal with the challenges of today rather than whatever we were facing 20 years ago?
▶ 0:47:16Sen. Kennedy: It was announced that china has a $1 trillion trade surplus. Did you see that?
▶ 0:47:24Amb. Greer: I did see that, I follow that pretty grossly -- closely.
▶ 0:47:30Sen. Kennedy: It got my attention and at first blush you think, how did they do that? We tariff to a lot of china products. They just went out and sold elsewhere. They replaced a lot of their sales to us with sales to africa. In fact, there trade with africa increased more than it did anywhere else, did you see that?
▶ 0:47:56Amb. Greer: I don't have the specific numbers, but it doesn't surprise me.
▶ 0:48:01Sen. Kennedy: What does this tell you?
▶ 0:48:03Amb. Greer: You have china that has its own five-year plans. Their whole goal is to export more and more. What it tells me is that the united states and others, we need to take actions. Our trade deficit with china went down. We need to make it more effective.
▶ 0:48:32Sen. Kennedy: What are we going to do about south africa? South africa is clearly not america's friend.
▶ 0:48:41Amb. Greer: That's correct. We have had some conversations with the south africans read when it comes to trade and there are a lot of foreign policy issues, they have a lot of barriers, not just tariff and nontariff barriers. They made clear.
▶ 0:49:06Amb. Greer: They are a real economy, a big economy, they have an industrial base and an agricultural base, they should be buying things from the united states.
▶ 0:49:14Sen. Kennedy: If you extend agoa, that will benefit south africa, right?
▶ 0:49:20Amb. Greer: I mean it could. I would say we have a 30% reciprocal tariff on south africa right now but I think south africa is a unique case.
▶ 0:49:31Sen. Kennedy: Don't you think we up to separate south africa and agoa?
▶ 0:49:38Amb. Greer: I'm happy to consider that. Congress has come to me and said, we want agoa. If you want to give south africa different treatment, I would agree to that because I think they are unique problem.
▶ 0:49:54Sen. Kennedy: They are a unique problem for america. They are our enemy right now. They are buddies with all of our enemies. They have been very critical of the united states.
▶ 0:50:05Amb. Greer: That's exactly right and that is why we are treated in a different way. Most of sub-saharan africa has a 10% tariff.
▶ 0:50:21Sen. Kennedy: I've only got a minute left and I want to see if I can hit a big picture item here. A lot of us are concerned about ukraine. And stopping russia. That is the underpinnings of my question. The president, the administration is in the process of negotiating a trade deal with china. Is that fair?
▶ 0:50:49Amb. Greer: Yes.
▶ 0:50:50Sen. Kennedy: And the negotiations are tough.
▶ 0:50:53Amb. Greer: I agree.
▶ 0:50:54Sen. Kennedy: And we made some progress but we are not there.
▶ 0:50:57Amb. Greer: Right.
▶ 0:50:58Sen. Kennedy: And things are soda finely balanced in terms of us confected in a deal good for america.
▶ 0:51:05Amb. Greer: We are getting there. The trade deficit is going down, we are going right direction.
▶ 0:51:11Sen. Kennedy: This is a high priority for the administration.
▶ 0:51:14Amb. Greer: That's right.
▶ 0:51:15Sen. Kennedy: Given those circumstances, what is the likelihood president trump is going to support the bill to place massive sanctions on china for buying russian oil?
▶ 0:51:30Amb. Greer: Are you talking about the senator graham bill?
▶ 0:51:34Sen. Kennedy: Which by the way I support. We keep talking about it like a possibility. And I'm thinking on what planet? Not the planet earth. Here's my point. The administration is spending all this time and work confected trade agreement with china and as soon as you get it done we are going to blow it up? I'm not saying we shouldn't.
▶ 0:51:59Sen. Kennedy: I'm trying to get us to be realistic in the senate about going to plan b and dealing with russia and ukraine.
▶ 0:52:05Amb. Greer: So what I would say is the white house and ustr have looked very closely with the graham bell, I've talked to senator graham. We support the bill. With china, we have very high tariffs on china. You reach a certain level and beyond that. We think it is a powerful bill, it is not china specific.
▶ 0:52:37Amb. Greer: It is about anyone who is buying or would have purchased fuel from russia. So we see it as something that is really russia specific and china specific.
▶ 0:52:47Sen. Kennedy: How come the administration hasn't given us the green light to pass the bill?
▶ 0:52:52Amb. Greer: You know what, after this I will ask, what is going on, guys?
▶ 0:52:57Sen. Kennedy: You understand we are not going to pass it until the president --
▶ 0:53:01Amb. Greer: I will go back and talk about where we are because we have been giving technical assistance.
▶ 0:53:06Sen. Kennedy: I just don't want us to waste anymore time on this subject. We need to go to plan b. Some of us are worried about ukraine and pushing back on russia and there is a plan b, but we are not going to go to it as long as we keep dancing around this issue of whether the president is going to blow up a trade deal with china by giving us a green light to pass this bill.
▶ 0:53:28Amb. Greer: One thing I would say is that in all of our trade deals, we are keeping tariffs on countries. We modify them, but we are keeping tariffs. There's not a world where we go to zero tariffs on the whole world. In china, part of our deal is we have some tariffs on them, they have some restrictions on us. It is a trade situation.
▶ 0:53:54Amb. Greer: Again, the bill and my understanding is we don't have to go to 500% on the whole world all at once. I will go back and we will talk about it and give you an update on whether that passes.
▶ 0:54:05Chair Moran: Senator merkley.
▶ 0:54:08Senator Merkley: Ambassador, you are aware that importers paid a tariff --pay the tariff?
▶ 0:54:17Amb. Greer: The importers. >> and that they often have to pass those costs on to consumers and the consumers pay the tariffs at over $2000 a year. Is it good or bad that american citizens have to pay $2000 more?
▶ 0:54:39Amb. Greer: A lot of times the exporter eats the tariff.
▶ 0:54:42Sen. Merkley: What is your estimate of how much more consumers will pay?
▶ 0:54:46Amb. Greer: First of all, sometimes it is ear especially coming from a country that is not a market economy.
▶ 0:54:52Sen. Merkley: You disagree with that when he $400. How much do you think an average family is going to pay more because of the tariffs?
▶ 0:54:58Amb. Greer: I don't have a number.
▶ 0:55:01Sen. Merkley: Ok, I think it is an important point and I think in your role you might have understood that a lot of costs are passed on to consumers and that that is hurting families. I met with a small business a couple of weeks ago in oregon and they ordered products for the manufacturing and when they order that the tariff was 10%. By the time they arrived it was 30%.
▶ 0:55:28Sen. Merkley: They probably wouldn't have ordered those products if they knew they had to pay 30%. So when tariffs are coming on very suddenly it imposes unexpected costs on americans and it is challenging for small businesses particularly. Why not give enough notice that advance so that small businesses don't end up in this kind of tariff trap?
▶ 0:55:47Amb. Greer: So when we impose tariffs, we always include a goods on the water provision to try to at least minimize some of these changes. That is the real issue, I'm not discounting that. If there are goods on the water for several weeks before hand, that is fine. If you do it earlier than that.
▶ 0:56:09Sen. Merkley: I will accept your answer that you try to address that, but in number of companies have told me they will try to pay more. Maybe there's a way we can improve that piece of the puzzle companies, they are not making decisions on new factories because of the uncertainty that it takes three years to build a new factory and there is
▶ 0:56:39Sen. Merkley: Uncertainty. Have you observed in are you familiar with the fact that a lot of investment decisions are on paul's because of the changing nature of the tariffs?
▶ 0:56:48Amb. Greer: Anecdotally I have had some folks come to me and talk about that. When I look at the data we are seeing private investment increase. We are seeing consumer consumption quite robust. The data shows that things are still continuing. But I hear anecdotes like you are saying.
▶ 0:57:07Amb. Greer: I acknowledge --senator merkley: I appreciate what you are saying and I will be happy to submit study data. The net effect year to date, the nest -- net effect was the last numbers we have. Did the trade deficit go up and down --or down year-over-year?
▶ 0:57:28Amb. Greer: There was a lot of front running so it has gone up, but when you look at august to september it has gone down.
▶ 0:57:36Sen. Merkley: We did see a drop in september, point taken, but january through august year-over-year it is a 25% increase in the trade deficit and I hope you are right, that it will continue to go down, but a lot of folks because of the tariff uncertainty preordered products therefore it is not unclear whether that is simply a dip and how much they are importing at this point because they had already invested before.
▶ 0:58:06Sen. Merkley: Finally, my farmers are not happy. And they are not happy because a lot of the markets have been disturbed. We don't have a big crop, we have a lot of crops and people are uncertain what to plant next spring because they are not sure where the customers will be. This is part of that instability factor.
▶ 0:58:31Sen. Merkley: Are you familiar with how the bag world, I know you are trying to bailey -- bail them out because of the damage done but are you familiar with how many parts of the ag world are feeling a lot of stress because in some cases tariffs have frozen some of the inputs? They are stressed about with the markets will be because of the up-and-down.
▶ 0:58:53Amb. Greer: With respect to the farmers, I talked to them very frequently. The chief agriculture negotiator who will hopefully be confirmed in the coming days, on the one hand we know that interest rates for farmers, labor costs skyrocketed during the biden years. Hopefully those are coming down now. We have gotten more market access for farmers for hazelnuts and blueberries and horticultural products. If they want to market access, we are getting it.
▶ 0:59:24Amb. Greer: If folks stomp want the market access, we are getting it for them. That will create higher commodity prices. The only country to retaliate against us was china. Everyone else negotiated and most have given us new market access and we hope the farmers will be able to take advantage of that. We have seen vietnam reduced tariffs already. Canada, the eu.
▶ 0:59:47Sen. Merkley: Pardon my role to convey what the folks back home have asked me to convey and my agricultural community is very stressed. Whole businesses are very stressed. They are saying main street is payne street and it care costs and tariffs. I'm closing now but I will say when I look at this, consumers paying over 2000 dollars more. Investment decisions on hold because of the uncertainty.
▶ 1:00:16Sen. Merkley: The trade deficit has increased for the year. It looks to me like it is not serving america well. That is my concern. Thank you.
▶ 1:00:26Chair Moran: Senator fischer.
▶ 1:00:31Senator Fischer: Thank you, chairman. Invested are greer, nice to see you today. Yesterday, I was at the white house as the president announced $12 billion in bridge payments to our farmers. It is no secret that the farm economy is in a tough place right now. They are very high input costs. We are looking at adverse weather conditions across much of farm country.
▶ 1:00:58Senator Fischer: So I'm glad and thankful that the president did provide this assistance. However, ultimately what nebraska farmers want our markets. Markets to sell their products. I know you are working on that. Especially for soybean farmers.
▶ 1:01:15Senator Fischer: The deal you negotiated with china was very welcome news and we have seen soybean prices increased since then but there remains anxiety about if and when china will fully follow through on those commitments that were made. The white house fact sheet on the deal stated china would purchase at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans during the last two months of 2025.
▶ 1:01:44Senator Fischer: That was followed then by 25 million metric tons over the next two years. A method or, over the weekend, I saw that you made comments about china being on pace for these purchases. This growing season. Can you walk me through how you are monitoring china's purchases and what is the timeline for the 12 million metric ton purchases? Is that timeline not by the end of this calendar year?
▶ 1:02:12Amb. Greer: It is for this growing season so thank you for highlighting that from a couple farmers. They wanted to know about that discrepancy. It is through the growing season which is when we expect them to be sold through the growing season. How we are monitoring it. On a nearly daily basis. We are checking with usda has their statistical services and reports. Soybean traders give me updates.
▶ 1:02:45Amb. Greer: It is like I'm verifying between what I'm hearing from asia and what we are seeing from the stats and the data. We are at about 3 million metric tons of beans so far. We think we are on track through the growing season to do this. We do want a large amount in the first couple of months. The president himself is engaged on this. This is an area where china should be buying from us.
▶ 1:03:13Amb. Greer: We have all kinds of areas where we want to manage trade with china. Agis some place where we can sell and buy.
▶ 1:03:23Sen. Fischer: I also want to discuss the impact tariffs have had on manufacturers in the state of nebraska. I strongly support the goals of strengthening manufacturing and well some tariffs have helped some industries, others have suffered. I have heard from several manufacturers that have had a long time significant presence in nebraska that they are being harmed by tariffs to the point of having considered layoffs.
▶ 1:03:55Sen. Fischer: Unfortunately, many have already done so. For many of the businesses, the challenge is the products they are manufacturing are competing in a global environment. When they are having to pay an increased cost for materials and inputs, yet their competitors are not, they are at a really competitive disadvantage. For example, one manufacturer in nebraska has competitors that manufacturer in canada.
▶ 1:04:24Sen. Fischer: They don't pay the tariffs for similar materials, yet they can send their product duty-free into the united states under the usmca. I know the intent of the tariffs is to support our domestic manufacturing. We all want to see that continue to grow.
▶ 1:04:41Sen. Fischer: I would like to ask if I can follow-up with you and your team and walk through some of the challenges that are facing the specific businesses and hopefully we can figure out some solutions and ensure these tariffs are not having a number of unintended consequences, so I look forward to being able to have those conversations with you.
▶ 1:05:03Amb. Greer: The course, I'm happy to discuss it.
▶ 1:05:05Sen. Fischer: Thank you. As I have been discussing some of the challenges facing our manufacturing industry I want to recognize some positives we have from these trade deals that have been announced. In particular, the foreign investment commitments from other countries I think have a huge opportunity to help free sure some of these critical supply chains over time and a number of the companies have located to my state that could
▶ 1:05:36Sen. Fischer: Benefit from strategic investment partnerships. As we see these foreign investment in ships from countries are being negotiated as part of a deal, can you talk about how the administration is working to help connect these american companies with foreign companies in order to achieve this?
▶ 1:05:55Amb. Greer: Certainly. The commerce department is really assisting in the inbound investment. They have the investment accelerator unit at the commerce department designed to assist foreign companies coming in to make sure they understand the permitting scheme to wonder -- to connect them with investment opportunities so we are happy to connect any businesses.
▶ 1:06:20Sen. Fischer: Good, I think there are a lot of opportunities ahead for us. We just have to stay ahead on track. We have to understand the challenges we face and push forward so we can get this done. Thank you.
▶ 1:06:35Chair Moran: The chair recognizes vice chair murray.
▶ 1:06:41Senator Murray: Thank you. I want to thank the chair and the ranking member. When it comes to trade and tariffs, this committee has strong bipartisan consensus so I'm glad they have the opportunity to hear directly from you today, ambassador greer . President trump promised to lower costs on day one.
▶ 1:07:03Senator Murray: He did slap these unprecedented new taxes on nearly everything americans by from abroad and now that prices are rising he is calling affordability a democratic scam. Ambassador, yes or no, do tariffs rave -- raise prices for american consumers?
▶ 1:07:19Amb. Greer: I don't think they do. When you look at all the data, I think they have a very limited impact.
▶ 1:07:24Sen. Murray: I disagree and the secretary said on fox news that exempting products from tariffs would "bring the prices down very clear. Wouldn't that mean that tariffs increase prices?
▶ 1:07:37Amb. Greer: Again, the general answer is no. I think with bananas, coffee, things we don't necessarily make, there you will get more of a chance of a price impact but other stuff we make or have a lot of producers, you don't have the flow-through but with those I think you could see an impact.
▶ 1:07:54Sen. Murray: I think my consumers and my state are seeing price increases and they know what is happening. I don't think I when he but he can say with a straight face that tariffs don't raise prices but somehow ending them lowers the prices so I think we all need to be honest. I visited a local candy company in tacoma, washington called brown and haley in my state. They have been in business for 112 years and employ 150 people.
▶ 1:08:22Sen. Murray: They are known for allman rocha which they export -- almond roca which they export to many countries. They told me that the tariffs cut half of their export market.
▶ 1:08:45Sen. Murray: To keep their business alive in china, they have been forced to license their brand to other products made in china and literally helping chinese manufacturers at the expense of the american ones. You are there trade representative. What have you done to ensure that american small businesses who rely on sales to china are able to sell their products and grow the economy here at home?
▶ 1:09:06Amb. Greer: So a couple of things. We are opening market access all over the world in places like southeast asia and even europe, places where everyone thinks we have had market access for a long time so we are opening billions of dollars of markets. I would be interested in talking to the company that makes almond roca. That is news to me that they had an issue in china.
▶ 1:09:31Sen. Murray: They are one of many in my home state, actually in this country facing the same kind of things. We have farmers and growers trying to expand into other markets as you well know and they are being thrown one time-limited relief, but our small businesses and our farmers want to trade. They don't want aid. They tell me that this is really creating chaos including brown and haley, but other companies as well.
▶ 1:10:00Sen. Murray: I would love to have you take a look at that because it has had a serious impact to them. Now, I do understand tariffs can be strategic but there seems to be no strategy to me when it comes to this trade war. Coffee is a great example. We consume nearly 800 times as much coffee as we produce. I doubt that is going to change anytime soon and I'm glad coffee is now exempt from some of these tariffs but I cannot understand why this administration forced americans to pay higher four months.
▶ 1:10:32Sen. Murray: Tell me, what did the coffee tariffs actually achieve? >> first of all, coffee prices were going up for two years, I can't affect the weather in brazil and all those other places. All those tariffs were imposed, some are in place to protect domestic supply chains, some are in place for leverage. The president announced he would take the tariffs off coffee and bananas and other things.
▶ 1:10:57Sen. Murray: Once we had the deals with those countries that send us coffee and bananas and those kinds of things, we had used that leverage and we removed it.
▶ 1:11:05Sen. Murray: Why did it take so long to exempt coffee?
▶ 1:11:08Amb. Greer: Tpp was negotiated for eight years under obama and it never came to fruition. We did deals with southeast asia and in six months to get the tariffs down.
▶ 1:11:19Sen. Murray: Well, those kinds of issues should have been worked out before we slap tariffs on anybody. I just have a few seconds left. Canada is my state's second largest export partner and our largest source of international visitors. I want you to know this. President trump's trade war and insults have driven away canadian visitors to my state and other states. It has delivered a huge blow to our economy.
▶ 1:11:48Sen. Murray: Passenger vehicle border crossings in my state are down more than 24% in the first 10 months this year. Spokane washington in eastern washington saw a 33% drop in visitors this year. The operator of a ferry between seattle and victoria bc has been forced to lay off a quarter of its workforce because ridership is down 30%.
▶ 1:12:14Sen. Murray: In my state, americans are losing their jobs and businesses are struggling and I believe we should not be picking fights with our close allies and neighbors like canada. This trade war has been a terrible blow to american small business is and I hope it ends. It has to end. If it could end tomorrow it would be so much better for my state and so many other people and I want you to know that. Especially with canada, this is hurting my state. >> ambassador, welcome. Good to see you here today.
▶ 1:12:45Sen. Murray: I want to talk first about what is happening in europe. I was encouraged to see the joint statement on the U.S.-eu trade deal, the highlight of the european union's egregious corporate sustainability and the corporate sustainability reporting directive.
▶ 1:13:08Sen. Murray: And in that particular statement, the eu committed to ensure these measures do not impose under restrictions on transatlantic trade and on commercial relations. Yet, despite these assurances, the european commission has advanced revised proposals that still contain extremely aggressive revisions targeting civil liability and climate transition planning mandates.
▶ 1:13:35Sen. Murray: How does the office of the united states trade representative plan to hold the eu accountable do -- to the commitments it made?
▶ 1:13:43Amb. Greer: Thank you, senator. We have included these commitments and our joint statements of the have to accommodate U.S. companies and the reality is, if the europeans don't deliver on what they committed, they won't receive the benefit of the terror of the tariff relief they have been granted -- the tariff relief they have been granted. We are speaking about this issue.
▶ 1:14:13Amb. Greer: >> thank you for holding them to account. This is a gorgeous, this attempt to overreach as they have -- egregious, this attempt to overreach. I want you to look for nontariff barriers including extraterritorial regulations as you approach your trade agenda. Legislation to block the csddd -- maintaining sovereignty.
▶ 1:14:41Amb. Greer: On a separate note, critical minerals are a foundation of the U.S. economy and our defense industrial base. We are significantly dependent on china for many of these minerals and elements, which creates unacceptable vulnerabilities in supply chains and gives the chinese communist party too much leverage in their national affairs.
▶ 1:15:08Amb. Greer: Beijing created dependence through unfair trade practices like market dumping. These practices made mineral production and midstream processing unprofitable. They have driven firms and allied nations out of business. How important is it to solve the unfair trading practices that has sustained beijing's dominance in critical minerals?
▶ 1:15:33Amb. Greer: This is at the core of what we need to do to re-industrialize. We have to have independent supply chains for these types of goods. I don't know if china is going to change the program and how they operate but we can take action. We can invest. We have done that with the mountain pass mind, the government, the administration is looking for many opportunities to jumpstart that kind of production.
▶ 1:16:05Amb. Greer: Private industry is jumping into it. Gm and ford from michigan are taking steps. We are seeing government, private industry and other countries find a way to work together to have independent supply chains. >> to address the challenge, senator cortez masto and I introduced the restoring american mineral security act which will empower the trade representative to lead negotiations with partners to create a critical minerals security alliance.
▶ 1:16:33Amb. Greer: The objective is to coordinate tariffs and trade revenues to level the playing field against beijing's unfair practices and foster a resilient supply chain for minerals that can't be used by china to hold our economy hostage. How would having these tools strengthened the ustr ability to diversify supply chains and negotiate on behalf of the U.S.?
▶ 1:16:58Amb. Greer: It sends the right message to our partners and private industry. We are taking steps already on a bilateral basis to negotiate these things but the tools you are talking about would add additional authority and seriousness to the process. >> I appreciate your help in working on this.
▶ 1:17:20Amb. Greer: I hope we pass the legislation to give you the tools you need to build resilient networks to protect ourselves on these critical supply chains that are vital to national security. Thank you for being here. I always look forward to working with you on these important issues. I will next call on senator peters.
▶ 1:17:37Sen. Peters: Thank you senator hagerty. Good to see you here today. Ambassador, as part of the usmca trade agreement the U.S., mexico and canada agreed to review and potentially renegotiate the terms of the agreement beginning 2026, coming.
▶ 1:18:01Sen. Peters: Up shortly last month your office can today public comment period that was designed to guide the offices respective as you enter this mandatory review. This was followed by three days of public hearing on the trade agreement. The comments and hearings will assist the drafting of the report to congress on the posture heading into this review.
▶ 1:18:24Sen. Peters: I want to impress upon you and your team on the importance of open lines of communication between the ustr and congress during this process. We were able to craft and approve the usmca in 2020 because a pipe -- bipartisan cooperation in congress as well as public input.
▶ 1:18:46Sen. Peters: For that reason as you approach the start of the review period next summer, I employ your -- implore you to maintain close communication with congress, businesses, workers, local governments and stakeholders to ensure that terms of the usmca improve, not regress.
▶ 1:19:06Sen. Peters: We have spoken how important trade is to mexico and canada, the state of michigan, have been busy border crossings with canada is of incredible importance to my state and to the country. What are you and the administration's priorities as you enter into this review process?
▶ 1:19:29Amb. Greer: I appreciate the engagement we have had. I commit to the disposal of anyone who wants to talk about trade. We fade -- we finished our process and forming views and I can tell you first and foremost, I want to make sure our trading partners are following their current commitments. We have situations where mexico isn't following all of its commitments.
▶ 1:19:59Amb. Greer: We are working with them and they are being pragmatic. We identified areas where we think canada is falling down in their commitments. In addition to compliance with existing agreements we want a situation where the rules of origin benefit content from the U.S. and canada and mexico, but we want to make sure the agreement is truly for american workers and american businesses. And that means a conversation about rules of origin.
▶ 1:20:27Amb. Greer: We did it for autos in the first trump term. My sense is we also need to do this on non-auto items and make sure the terms of the agreement benefit american producers and workers. There are a variety of other things we can look at but that is one of the key things.
▶ 1:20:44Sen. Peters: And open communications, we will be able to talk regularly?
▶ 1:20:48Amb. Greer: Of course. My staff will be available and I will be available if you want to talk.
▶ 1:20:57Sen. Peters: Are you concerned the administration's unprecedented usage of emergency powers, to impose tariffs on mexico and canada, will make it less likely these countries will be willing to make the kinds of changes to the trade agreement that are advantageous to our domestic industries? We have to do a lot more and it seems to such a difficult environment to go into the negotiations.
▶ 1:21:22Amb. Greer: I think it makes it more likely that other countries, they don't really respond to persuasion. They respond to enforcement. When we talk about enforcement, it is tariffs. That is how we are able to generate compliance and market opening. I have been working with the mexicans over the past 90 days for compliance and they have come a long way.
▶ 1:21:49Amb. Greer: When we say we want to enforcement of agreements we need to understand enforcement means imposing tariffs if people don't comply and that is a motivator.
▶ 1:21:59Sen. Peters: The trump administration place tariffs on canada in february in an effort that was claimed to be related to fentanyl trafficking. We discussed this, I am focused on addressing the threat of fentanyl. It is a scourge that we have to focus on and as ranking member of homeland security we do that on a daily basis. Any amount of fentanyl crossing the border is too high. We agree on that.
▶ 1:22:27Sen. Peters: In reality, very little sentinel entering the U.S. is coming from canada so it is unclear why the administration has taken an aggressive action against one of our greatest allies and friends and trading partners who have certainly demonstrated a willingness to work on a cooperative basis on border security, something I do regularly with our canadian counterparts.
▶ 1:22:50Sen. Peters: How can the administration justify continuing tariffs related to that, since the main consequences are actually increasing prices for americans, threatening american businesses? We heard from one of my colleagues on what is happening in her state as well. We are working closely with canadian border security. They are focused as we are, but we are raising prices on americans.
▶ 1:23:14Amb. Greer: In the first lace, most canadian goods, or duty free because they comply with the rules of the usmca. I'm happy to share some of this with you but we know they are continue to be giant foreign funded labs in canada where they are producing fentanyl and that is unacceptable. I agree we work well with the canadians on fentanyl and border security but they have giant foreign funded labs that produce fentanyl and that has to stop.
▶ 1:23:45Chair Moran: Senator britt.
▶ 1:23:48Sen. Britt: I want to build of something you just said. You talked about negotiations with mexico over the last 90 days and then not making good on commitments. And you working through that. Something I worked with senator hagerty on in lock step is making sure vulcan is a top priority of this country, and yours, as we have the negotiations.
▶ 1:24:15Sen. Britt: We have to make sure our american companies are treated fairly and the way they have been treated by the mexican government is. Egregious I appreciate you keeping that top of mind during the negotiations. I wanted to talk about the U.S. pyrotechnic industry. At the center is the great state of alabama.
▶ 1:24:37Sen. Britt: As we prepare for america's 250 this summer, the president and I discussed this, the importance of ensuring communities across the country have access to the fireworks they need for the historic occasion, to make sure we can celebrate our country from coast to coast and in doing so I want to confirm the administration is committed to maintaining the fair treatment for our U.S. fireworks companies especially as they work to meet the nation's needs in front of this big day.
▶ 1:25:07Amb. Greer: Thank you, senator for your comments on mexico and this. Earlier this year the U.S. tariffs on china were quite high, 140%, the result of chinese retaliation that was brought down significantly. I had conversations with fireworks vendors and that is something they were happy to see that come down. We will continue to stay engaged with them.
▶ 1:25:34Amb. Greer: They have engaged with the white house to make sure we get a sense of where they are and that we can have the fireworks we need.
▶ 1:25:41Sen. Britt: The next issue concerns specialized equipment and procurement. I briefly touched on this with secretary lutnick when he was in front of the subcommittee but as we worked on shore and significantly expand domestic capacity in sectors ranging from aluminum to steel to pulp paper, auto manufacturers, etc., we know many companies face time sensitive procurement needs for specialized industrial equipment.
▶ 1:26:11Sen. Britt: Much of which has limited sourcing ability. How is ustr ensuring predictability and affordability and access to these essential manufacturing meant required -- equipment required for these plants to expand?
▶ 1:26:26Amb. Greer: We need to take a step back and understand what the president is doing. He is reassuring manufacturing, the fact that we have to be reliant on other countries for the equipment to manufacture is really disturbing.
▶ 1:26:43Sen. Britt: That makes the point.
▶ 1:26:44Amb. Greer: It reflects decades of bad policy. We heard from some companies, I meet with a lot of stakeholders who talk about the issue and I'm happy to meet with any you have that have concerns.
▶ 1:26:59Sen. Britt: Do you have guidance that you are providing the companies or a case-by-case basis taking time with them?
▶ 1:27:08Amb. Greer: It is case-by-case. The president's program is at a program that gives out tons of exclusions. If you fix the deficit and you have exclusions you don't fix the deficit. We have an open door to companies to talk about their issues.
▶ 1:27:23Sen. Britt: We will follow up. The next issue was about ensuring products manufactured here remain fully competitive. It is a similar question. We have a mini man -- a main year -- a major manufacturer who support their U.S. production. Sometimes the tariff, sometimes it is higher than the tariff impact faced by foreign competitors on a finished good. This is something you when your team have worked on and are considering carefully.
▶ 1:27:53Sen. Britt: I appreciate that, and I welcome any update on how you were approaching that to ensure domestic manufacturers are able to compete in the market across the world.
▶ 1:28:04Amb. Greer: Thank you. I would say one of the things we have done, president trump's tariff programs, those countries that dump the most, whether it is vietnam or others in asia, they have the highest tariffs to help create a level playing field.
▶ 1:28:21Sen. Britt: As you ironed that out, if there is anything we can do that will be helpful, let us know. Last question, when it comes to cotton, alabama is at the heart of the southeast cotton belt. 59 out of 67 of our counties are cotton producing counties. We produce higher quality cotton than anyone in the world but our growers are seeing less demand than ever before in large part due to illegal market practices.
▶ 1:28:53Sen. Britt: You alluded to this in other questions, implemented by adversaries to gain a competitive advantage. On top of that, china continues to lead the market with cheap synthetic products, further creating a divide. Question for you because in congress we are working on it. We see the chair and senator hyde-smith leading the effort on buying american cotton. I'm proud to be part of that effort.
▶ 1:29:22Sen. Britt: What conversations are you having at ustr in this regard and in what ways do you inc. We can encourage the consumption of american cotton through trade policies?
▶ 1:29:33Amb. Greer: Amb. Greer: one thing we have done, we reached agreements with el salvador and guatemala, key parts of the U.S. textile industry. We agreed to preferential treatment for them so we support that supply chain that depends largely on U.S. cotton as a hose to supply chains from other parts of the world.
▶ 1:29:54Sappho -- Sen. Britt: I appreciate what you are doing.
▶ 1:29:59Sen. Reed: Thank you. All through the nation, what we hear when we go out is families are suffering under accelerating prices on practically everything. Since january, until this october, appliances have gone up 4.2 5%, electricity 5.6%, ground beef 13.87%.
▶ 1:30:32Sen. Reed: For many families that is a staple. Milk and coffee. Coffee 30.2%. Goldman sachs estimates the tariffs are being paid for, 55% by american consumers and 22% by american businesses, which probably pass on some of that to consumers. In this situation of crisis, the president seems to be in different to what is going on in the average family in the united states.
▶ 1:31:02Amb. Greer: Senator, using the president of being -- accusing the president of being indifferent is not accurate. Some of the bigger things that have happened, housing, health care, education, these things skyrocketed under the biden administration.
▶ 1:31:23Amb. Greer: We have a lot of things over the past 12 months and I'm looking at public information, apparel has gone down by 0.1% over 12 months but where we see issues about beef, the president is launching affordability programs. Some of these things with secular trends, we want to work with you on it.
▶ 1:31:43Sen. Reed: That is interesting. Let's talk about coffee, 30% increase. One major corporate producer is brazil. The president put tariffs on brazil because his friend, bolsonaro, was being prosecuted under the law of brazil. Do you think that is a valid reason to impose tariffs on a country that results in significantly increased prices for american families?
▶ 1:32:11Amb. Greer: Ieepa has been used by presidents in both parties to deal with foreign policy issues, whether it is abuse of law or human rights issues. Brazil we said they tried to force american companies to sell sensor, they detained americans --
▶ 1:32:29Sen. Reed: The president admitted he was doing this because of bolsonaro, demanded they cease prosecuting him under the law. In your view it would be appropriate for another country to go in and slap tariffs on the U.S. if someone was being prosecuted that they liked.
▶ 1:32:48Amb. Greer: The U.S., including presidents of both parties, have used ieepa to take stronger action. They used it to cut off trade with countries where they think the judicial systems are abused. The president didn't take that strong of actions. He didn't cut off all trade. We have examples where former presidents have cut off trade entirely because we think --
▶ 1:33:12Sen. Reed: What are those examples?
▶ 1:33:13Amb. Greer: We cut off trade with iran.
▶ 1:33:19Sen. Reed: Because they were trying, because, we cut off trade with iran because they were engaged in violent activity.
▶ 1:33:28Amb. Greer: We have sanctions on specific people in mexico, who is a neighbor. We have sanctions on specific individuals in countries all over the world. All presidents have used ieepa to do sanctions. . The president has not gone as far as full cutoffs but has impose tariffs.
▶ 1:33:43Sen. Reed: The president for his own self gratification impose tariffs on brazil because one of his buddies was in trouble. Yesterday the white house announced nvidia is going to be allowed to export the h 200 ships to china. Are you consulted on that?
▶ 1:34:03Amb. Greer: I was.
▶ 1:34:06Sen. Reed: Did you agree?
▶ 1:34:07Amb. Greer: I agreed with the president.
▶ 1:34:13Sen. Reed: Did anybody in the department of defense, where they consulted?
▶ 1:34:14Amb. Greer: I will not disclose internal deliberations of the white house on this.
▶ 1:34:20Sen. Reed: Every professional military officer I have talked to about this thanks it is detrimental to the security of the U.S. to provide these chips to china, that this is a gross breach of responsibility as commander-in-chief to ensure this country is protected. And I think you should be consulting with the national security experts. Again, thank you.
▶ 1:34:50Amb. Greer: Thank you, senator. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. Ambassador, thank you for coming today. I represent the state of new hampshire and canada is our largest trading partner. In 2024 new hampshire businesses exported $1.2 billion in goods to canada. Many of our businesses have been hurt by tariffs and loss of business from canada.
▶ 1:35:22Amb. Greer: One small business I visited stands out in particular because when the president announced the tariffs and got into back and forth with canada, that business lost 85% of its wholesale sales, went from 15 employees down to two. When I visited the small business, he wanted to ask questions of the president so I will ask those questions of you. He said, what do you want me to do?
▶ 1:35:49Amb. Greer: If you, meaning the president, the administration, care about your country, why don't you support small businesses which are the backbone of every community? I think this is a serious issue because every business I have visited in new hampshire has not only been concerned about the cost of the tariffs on their business, but also about the uncertainty that has surrounded them, which has made a real impact. The U.S.
▶ 1:36:15Amb. Greer: Is in its ninth straight month of contraction in manufacturing and lost manufacturing jobs every single month since liberation day. What should I say on behalf of the administration to the small manufacturers who are seeing their input costs going up, who aren't big tech companies that can access the president to get an exemption, but who are dealing with on the ground impacts of these tariffs?
▶ 1:36:42Amb. Greer: I would first of all, I'm happy to talk to your constituents. There aren't tariffs on goods that travel across the border between canada and the U.S. if they are canadian and american goods.
▶ 1:36:59Amb. Greer: If they comply with the usmc rules, which president trump set up in the senate agreed to, they are not subject to a tariff so they are getting goods not in -- not made in canada but made somewhere else and bringing them across, we have tariffs on china and other laces.
▶ 1:37:13Sen. Shaheen: Let's talk about usmca. It was raised earlier unfortunately and I wasn't here but can you talk about how current negotiations are going with canada over tariffs, and over reauthorizing usmca, where the negotiations are and when you expect them to finish and what challenges you are seeing come up?
▶ 1:37:39Amb. Greer: We concluded our public consultation process that was a couple months long. We had three days of hearings where civil society and industry and workers can give their views. We received a lot of input from agricultural community manufacturing service dividers. A lot of people like things usmc has done.
▶ 1:38:03Amb. Greer: Lots of people are concerned that mexico and canada have not been compliant so we are developing areas we think the agreement should be improved or fixed. The president himself is also considering what the future of the agreement looks like. I speak to my counterparts in canada and mexico pretty much weekly.
▶ 1:38:24Amb. Greer: It is incumbent on us and I tend to work with congress and have and will, on positions on usmca renegotiation so we can have a good sense. I think rules of origin need to be addressed because I want to make sure the benefits of the agreement go to the members of the agreement and not some third country in asia somewhere. So that a somewhere I want to focus and if there are tensions between canada and mexico those need to be result.
▶ 1:38:53Sen. Shaheen: Are you confident this will get done by the expiration date for reauthorization?
▶ 1:38:57Amb. Greer: On july 1, the administration has to say if they are going to stay in the agreement are not. If they say no, there is an ongoing negotiation process. If they say yes, you have the opportunity to revise and renegotiate. My expectation is in january I will sit down with the canadians on the mexicans may be separately to talk to them about what it looks like going forward.
▶ 1:39:24Sen. Shaheen: More and more countries seem to see china's export driven policies as a threat. When I travel internationally countries have been clear they want to do more business with the U.S., not with china which I think is a good thing. Last month goldman sachs updated their forecast to show more economic growth in china is hurting growth and the rest of the world.
▶ 1:39:52Sen. Shaheen: Can you talk about your objectives to build a cohesive global partnership to combat china's economic policies and what are the results you are seeing from that?
▶ 1:40:04Amb. Greer: I read the report, as well. One thing we have done over the past few months, concluding agreements on reciprocal trade with companies on a bilateral basis and this is a situation where we modify our tariffs somewhat. We keep tariffs to protect domestic production but we modify it to make sure we can get products from countries that we need and they are opening markets to us so we can be stronger partners with more balanced.
▶ 1:40:34Amb. Greer: Trade we have a trade deficit issues of -- we have a trade deficit issue and we have been -- we have been successful. They have come to us on digital trade, economic security, commercial opportunities. So that is exactly what we are doing and I'm happy to talk in more detail about what we have achieved.
▶ 1:40:55Sen. Shaheen: I know I'm out of time but if I could do a quick follow-up because I think my understanding is, there have been about 20 deals that have been done and we have only seen the actual text for two of them. Do you have any idea when we will see the details on the rest of the deals?
▶ 1:41:13Amb. Greer: First of all, for some of them, not to get too much in the weeds but we uploaded them onto the system where members and staff can review the negotiating texts. Some of that is available for. Your review already. We expect to publish additional agreement and the full text within the coming weeks. That is a bag answer but we are finalizing that now.
▶ 1:41:38Sen. Shaheen: Thank you Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:41:44Chair Moran: Ambassador, thank you for your presence here this afternoon. A couple things I want to add to what you have been asked. First of all, let me start with agriculture and the challenge I think is that when it comes to soybeans and grain, china is a significant purchaser or has been historically that it is hard to overcome that with other trade agreements on a bilateral basis.
▶ 1:42:14Chair Moran: Where are the greatest opportunities for agriculture, we are taking a trade mission in europe, a farm group in kansas. India is one that comes to mind for grain sorghum but it is a difficult country to crack. What is your plan?
▶ 1:42:32Chair Moran: How do you overcome, and china complicates the need for agricultural producers in kansas and across the country to be able to sell their commodities to china complicates the issues you face in trying to get a trade agreement, a better trade agreement with china. Rare earth minerals is a component of the, but in addition, in the U.S.
▶ 1:42:56Chair Moran: The purchase of those commodities is critical to the economy of many rural states.
▶ 1:43:05Amb. Greer: We have to remember and keep in mind that china's economy is like a square and ours is like a circle. They don't fit together well all the time. We need to manage that trade and I know our farmers would love to have free unfettered access to every market in the world and we are achieving that with many market. Right now, which is great. With china, they have a different system.
▶ 1:43:35Amb. Greer: They probably will not change their system for us but they know, they benefit from having our soybeans. They like to buy from brazil but they need our sorghum, they need all of this. It makes sense to have arrangements with them because it is a way to have the square of the circle go together. For sure, we believe that. We think it is helpful to diversify and that is why vietnam has reduced its tariffs for us on soybeans. They go lower on that.
▶ 1:44:08Amb. Greer: Cambodia reduce theirs. You mentioned india, I have a team over there in new delhi as we speak working on this. There is resistance in india to certain props, and other products. They are difficult and I agree 100% but they have been forward leaning. The offers they have talked about have been the best we have ever received as a country. So I think that is a viable alternative market.
▶ 1:44:37Amb. Greer: We talk about, there are biofuels, derived from soybeans so we are trying to touch every base in every country to make sure we can diversify and we want to maintain the relationship with china. They need our product and we want to sell it.
▶ 1:44:55Chair Moran: You touched on one of my points, biofuels is another component of how to export agricultural commodities and it has the advantage of having processing jobs created by the creation of biofuels. I would highlight, I chair a caucus of the senate on sustainable aviation fuel, another opportunity within the biofuels realm.
▶ 1:45:20Chair Moran: What is the prognosis on ethanol and biofuels in the global economy as far as trade?
▶ 1:45:27Amb. Greer: With ethanol, that has been an area of broad market access. We have a huge new quota we obtained in the u.k. And we have a lot of other countries who during negotiations agreed to open markets for U.S. ethanol so that is big. With saf we have the eu that agreed to a commitment to buy $750 billion in U.S.
▶ 1:45:52Amb. Greer: Energy products over the next few years including oil and gas but anything else like biofuels. That is a major market obviously.
▶ 1:46:00Chair Moran: This is certainly outside ustr but the photo behind me came from a number of years ago when I was in kings -- kensington, kansas, on a street called railroad avenue which in small towns lends itself to going by the grain elevator. I can hardly see the grain elevator because of the grain sorghum piled on the ground because there isin the elevator.
▶ 1:46:29Chair Moran: -- there is no space in the elevator. This is a circumstance across kansas. It highlights the magnitude of what we have to sell and how important your job is. The part that is outside your realm, but as an advocate for farmers that you are, I would highlight the importance of food aid programs.
▶ 1:46:58Chair Moran: Usda has those food for peace, mcgovern-dole, the legislation that senator hoeven and I are involved in that bring the program into the department of agriculture from usaid and the state department. We are trying to find the right place in this administration in which feeding hungry people around the globe has a future.
▶ 1:47:22Chair Moran: I would encourage you to advocate, as you have conversations with the department of agriculture or state department, that there is more that can be done outside of trade agreements that is being done in feeding people who are hungry and/or starving. The number, the last number I knew that our feeding hungry people globally represent about 13% of the market of commodities in the U.S.
▶ 1:47:53Chair Moran: 13% in today's world is not an inconsequential figure. And all I'm asking of you is that in your discussions within the administration, would you please highlight the opportunity that can be made outside ustr as far as what is a market for agriculture commodities grown in the united states.
▶ 1:48:19Chair Moran: It has the additional moral component of meeting people who are hungry -- feeding people who are hungry.
▶ 1:48:24Amb. Greer: I will do that and I will try to be even more concrete and have my staff talk two years to make sure there is a concrete path forward.
▶ 1:48:31Chair Moran: That would be useful. I want to thank you, you told me you would do something and you did it time and time again, it was easy to talk about soybeans but I want to make sure grain sorghum is included. Watching your press comments and press release in southeast asia, you were there to highlight the importance of grain sorghum.
▶ 1:48:58Chair Moran: And in addition to an agricultural state, we had a number of things, one of the significant things is aviation in kansas. In your negotiations in the past with the united kingdom, south korea, japan, the european union, you established the 040 tariffs created in the 1979 agreement. You continued that practice and policy.
▶ 1:49:26Chair Moran: I want to encourage that to continue as you negotiate with india or brazil or singapore. Can you provide me an update and your thought process on the continuation of the 1979 agreement? I would highlight that aerospace is perhaps the best but one of the best in which we have the ability to export a lot more than we import.
▶ 1:49:52Chair Moran: The parts and relationships we have particularly under usmca with canada and mexico in aviation remain hugely important.
▶ 1:50:00Amb. Greer: I lived in wichita, so this is a sector that is important to me. As we have gone through and accomplished our trade deals with countries, this is an area where we have agreed to give them no reciprocal tariffs. Again, recognizing the 1979 agreement and the status of the industry in america as an exporter with brazil, india, singapore. We don't have deals yet with these countries.
▶ 1:50:30Amb. Greer: With india it is advanced. My expectation is we can talk about extending treatment to those countries, as well, if they are willing to play ball and come to the table and give the U.S. market access it should have.
▶ 1:50:46Chair Moran: Chair moran: if something is renegotiated in regards to usmca, it would be a trade agreement subject to senate ratification?
▶ 1:50:51Amb. Greer: I think if you are changing U.S. law, yes. If I'm just having unilateral concessions from other countries there is nothing for congress to do, but if there is something where we need to come to congress and have you vote on it, that is what we have to do to make that happen.
▶ 1:51:07Chair Moran: Let me turn to the subject of the hearing, ustr budget request. Your budget request in fy 26, we had a difficult time in budgetary process, the appropriations progress because the administration was new and getting the budget together. The budget request was $95 million, $15 million above what we marked our bill to become $80 million. But it is the largest increase.
▶ 1:51:36Chair Moran: You have been flatlined so the subcommittee, and the full committee, have in terms of the history have significantly increased the amount of money available to ustr and I wanted to give you the opportunity to explain to the subcommittee why the request is appropriate and what the money is important for.
▶ 1:51:56Amb. Greer: Certainly. Again, as I mentioned, I don't do grants or loans. It is salaries, travel expenses, and it is split into two buckets. We have the normal operating budget and we have something called the trade enforcement trust fund congress created in 2015 to signify the importance of enforcement.
▶ 1:52:22Amb. Greer: For example, when it comes to just critical staffing for tariffs and trade exports, we need an additional 10 full-time employees to do this. We estimate that to be just over $5 million. When it comes to enforcement staff, because we are going around the world and getting all kinds of great concessions for manufacturers and agricultural producers, service providers, but we have to enforce it.
▶ 1:52:50Amb. Greer: We have to monitor and make sure it is accomplished so we need nine additional employees and that is about $6 million. The trust fund itself, we asked for an additional $8 million because we are dealing with china, the second largest market in the world. I have been hearing for years and years during my time in the parade field that we need to enforce and that means we actually have to have people who monitor the situation, with folks on the ground and who can take action.
▶ 1:53:20Amb. Greer: We have to do all of this research and draft the actions. We have to take action and execute. It is policy experts, attorneys, it is industry folks and these are career folks. I'm not asking for political people, these people know the trade end know what they are doing and it has been flat for five years. We have never been busier. I'm negotiating with dozens of countries.
▶ 1:53:50Amb. Greer: We are trying to enforce agreements we have made to protect american supply chains as we enter into a period of geopolitical uncertainty and we need to supply chains. To many senators points, we need tariffs. People disagree on how they are deployed, but I think I have heard today that we need to have them in some way. We need people to do it so I can do it in a nuanced way.
▶ 1:54:07Chair Moran: Over the years I have said we have trade agreements that are good when we approve them, but they have to be enforced. So that point resonates with me. And you have, assuming confirmation occurs, as expected, and the next few days you will have a chief ag negotiator on board. You have instructions for her day one that she is going to accomplish and solve.
▶ 1:54:34Amb. Greer: I do. Fortunately, she is a longtime career staffer who knows the business, knows the community and the countries and she has already been hard at work. She will of course have added authority when she is confirmed. One thing I have asked her to look at is what about brazil? I have heard a lot about brazil and we have to remember in terms of a, they are a competitor.
▶ 1:55:04Amb. Greer: They are a competitor in aerospace. When someone retaliates against us, brazil is in the backfield. There are lots of things to solve and our act negotiator is ready for the job.
▶ 1:55:16Chair Moran: This is it. Thank you, ambassador. Senator van hollen.
▶ 1:55:23Sen. Van Hollen: Thank you Mr. chairman. A couple points. First I want to second the chairman's comments about the programs in place to feed hungry people around the world. I think they do advanced our interests as well as prevent starvation.
▶ 1:55:43Sen. Van Hollen: I'm upset they blocked usaid but I look forward to finding ways to get help around the world until we get it back at some point. I want to emphasize the point senator reed made which builds on my earlier point about I don't think we should compromise our national security to advance a trade agreement.
▶ 1:56:07Sen. Van Hollen: I do believe that the decision the other day to allow nvidia to sell h200 chips to china undermines our national security . We had a hearing in another committee recently that talked about the dangers of undoing the rule, the affiliates will we discussed earlier. I hope that we can work on those issues.
▶ 1:56:40Sen. Van Hollen: With respect to the $12 billion, the $28 billion during the last administration, you agree this is a cost to america of the trade war with china, right? I mean, that cap has been picked up by american taxpayers.
▶ 1:57:00Amb. Greer: China has weaponized trade with the U.S. last year, congress appropriated $10 billion for farmers because they had a large crop. For better or worse, this body will occasionally appropriate money to take care of these issues.
▶ 1:57:24Sen. Van Hollen: It was a simple question. In the first trump, U.S. taxpayers put up $28 billion the chart is missing, because of the surplus agricultural produce we did not export to china.
▶ 1:57:35Amb. Greer: If china targets are farmers we will take care of them and we will not sit down while china does everything. People want the status quo, they want to --
▶ 1:57:43Sen. Van Hollen: Right. So I'm looking at a chart from the american farm bureau. In 2018 during the first trump trade negotiations, obviously exports for soybeans took a huge hit. They are taking a big hit now. My point is that american taxpayers are footing the bill for that. Now $12 billion. The question is what do we get for it?
▶ 1:58:13Sen. Van Hollen: What does china give? During the first trump administration one thing they committed to supposedly was increased imports of american goods. It is a fact,, is it not that they made on 50 -- they made good on 59% of the promises.
▶ 1:58:33Amb. Greer: Itamb. Greer: is because president biden refused to enforce the agreement. The first year of that agreement, the chinese purchased more ag than they had in years and president biden refused to enforce it.
▶ 1:58:41Sen. Van Hollen: This was the promise they made while trump was in office during those terms. You are saying while president trump was in office in his first term, china complied with the agreement purchase these goods?
▶ 1:58:56Amb. Greer: They were compliant. They had their highest purchases --
▶ 1:58:58Sen. Van Hollen: If you look at this, you will see --
▶ 1:58:59Amb. Greer: President biden --
▶ 1:59:01Sen. Van Hollen: President biden kept the tariffs.
▶ 1:59:04Amb. Greer: I credit him for that.
▶ 1:59:06Sen. Van Hollen: He kept the tariffs on. He didn't get rolled over. The reality is china did not fulfill its commitments under the previous agreement negotiated by the trump administration. I don't know whether trump administration is prepared to do about it, what you are prepared to do if they don't follow through. On the japan deal we've your these grand -- we hear grand announcements after commitments countries have made.
▶ 1:59:39Sen. Van Hollen: I want to understand the commitment on the japan deal because japan already is the largest foreign investor in the U.S. 819 billion dollars I'm told as of last year, japanese countries have invested in the U.S., $819 billion.
▶ 1:59:58Amb. Greer: They are a large investor. The koreans said they were bigger last year but I will credit you, they are huge.
▶ 2:00:00Sen. Van Hollen: You are saying under the new japan trade deal, japan is committed to invest another 500 $50 billion in the united states before the end of trump's term, is that correct?
▶ 2:00:10Amb. Greer: That is what they have committed.
▶ 2:00:12Sen. Van Hollen: So by the end of the term they will be up to $1.3 trillion?
▶ 2:00:17Amb. Greer: They will invest an additional $550 billion over three years.
▶ 2:00:23Sen. Van Hollen: We don't know what they would invest anyway in addition but it will be interesting to see how we monitor that. How are we going to monitor that? I have been reading about the special task force that will be set up and after these japanese countries -- companies or investors get their full principle returned, the U.S. government will get 90% of the profits? ? Is that right?
▶ 2:00:49Amb. Greer: The burns -- the commerce department is doing that. If the commerce department reports they are not compliant, we can see if the deal needs to hold. It needs to be monitored, I agree.
▶ 2:01:03Sen. Van Hollen: You cut the deal.
▶ 2:01:08Amb. Greer: The commerce department is focused on the investment piece of this. I'm focused on tariffs.
▶ 2:01:10Sen. Van Hollen: We look forward to it. I hope the chairman will agree that if we are going to go make these statements about what the agreements are going to produce for the american people, it is very important that we hold them accountable for those purposes.
▶ 2:01:30Sen. Van Hollen: In the interest of time, I'm not going to ask the questions directly about your role as the head of the office of special counsel but I would request that you and your team answered some questions for the record because, if you are willing to.
▶ 2:01:47Amb. Greer: We are happy to do so.
▶ 2:01:48Sen. Van Hollen: Thank you.
▶ 2:01:51Sen. Hoeven: Thank you for being here and thanks for your great work. Yesterday I was at the white house and we had a roundtable with president trump and secretary of agriculture rollins and announced a $12 billion assistance, the bridge for farmers until we get to the enhancements in the one big beautiful bill we made which includes enhanced crop insurance and updated plc savings which will make a big difference for
▶ 2:02:24Sen. Hoeven: Farmers but we have to get there. President trump and secretary rollins stepped up and provided the bridge. That sends an important message to farmers and an important message to china that they will not put pressure on us by going after our farmers.
▶ 2:02:42Sen. Hoeven: The president and secretary bessent and ustr ambassador greer are fighting for our farmers and ranchers in markets overseas and we really appreciate that.
▶ 2:02:57Sen. Hoeven: I want to thank you and make sure people understand that you are the one that is fighting to make sure these trade agreements are enforced and we get better terms for farmers and ranchers and other exporters as well and that you are all about getting a level playing field, whether it is tariffs we face or the nontariff barriers put onto west. How about china devaluing their currency? All of these things that you are out there fighting for us.
▶ 2:03:27Sen. Hoeven: For our farmers, ranchers, for everybody. That is the fight you are fighting. When I talked to scott bessent he said you are a walking encyclopedia so I'm glad to hear that. I would have to agree with them.
▶ 2:03:41Amb. Greer: Next time I will have you dropped my opening remarks, senator.
▶ 2:03:48Sen. Hoeven: We appreciate you are fighting for us and sometimes that is not fully understood. We want sales and we want them executed. When we look at for example china, we are talking about 12 million, 12 million metric tons for this season and this is the 25 crop year. That it ramps up to the 25 million metric tons for the following crop year.
▶ 2:04:17Sen. Hoeven: Walk us through what the timing of the sales will be forcefully -- for soy with china. I'm talking about the execution. The key is the execution and the timing. Give us specifics and tell us how you can get us more so we can deal with that uncertainty that farmers are facing.
▶ 2:04:39Amb. Greer: I appreciate your support and the conversations we have had our helpful. With china, 12 million metric tons through the rest of the growing season which ends in february or march depending on the sales. It is 25 million per growing season.
▶ 2:04:57Sen. Hoeven: If these get executed before the end of march, the 12 million metric tons, and we are into the next, that is, that is like 37 million within not a lot more than a year.
▶ 2:05:12Amb. Greer: That is right.
▶ 2:05:15Sen. Hoeven: It is important people understand that.
▶ 2:05:18Amb. Greer: That is right and on top of that we have had commitments from other countries to buy soybeans, corn and we dance or and other things and we have already seen, the first we've seen in years, korea and japan made these commitments. Our ag team tracks these things and if they are not done we will enforce.
▶ 2:05:43Amb. Greer: More important, china's site, purchase agreements with china are important because of how their economy works but with other countries we want purchase agreements but we want structural constant access so farmers and ranchers can have regular market access and establish relationships that will give them that continuity.
▶ 2:06:02Sen. Hoeven: 90% of the soybeans we export from north dakota are preserved and they go to china and those are long-standing relationships. I want to bring up brazil. We hear about beef and other things but for example brazil is dumping sugar over quota into our market. They forced sugar prices for our producers down 42%. If you go into the store it is flat.
▶ 2:06:32Sen. Hoeven: Flat, ok? So this is an example where we need to enforce our agreement for sugar producers because once they wipe us out, they can push it right back up. This is anticompetitive trade dumping 101. What can we do about that?
▶ 2:06:51Amb. Greer: As I mentioned to the chairman, I see brazil is a major competitor in the agricultural space and they have a lot of practices in brazil that undermine our farmers, whether it is export markets or right at home. Sugar is famously managed trade. It is rarely free-trade. In sugar we have U.S. quotas to manage that. I'm happy to look closer.
▶ 2:07:19Amb. Greer: I haven't gone into details on the effect of brazilian dumping in the market but we can work with usda to see what to do about controlling that flow.
▶ 2:07:26Sen. Hoeven: The last thing I will bring up and I appreciate the chairman and ranking member for setting this up, the opportunity to talk about the important work you are doing in trade. That is on food's. As the chairman mentioned we work, to reform the program that was badly needed. We support food for peace but it needs to support U.S.
▶ 2:07:51Sen. Hoeven: National interest which wasn't happening with usaid, and the state needs a hand in that. We have worked through state as far as how the food aid can and should go. It should be over to ag. Are you involved in advancing that? Is that under your purview as well or is that something we need to continue to work with state and usaid?
▶ 2:08:23Sen. Hoeven: I don't have a direct hand on it
▶ 2:08:24But Amb. Greer: Amb. Greer: sometimes I -- get looped on these. I am happy to play a role and talk to state and usda to make sure we have a concrete path forward.
▶ 2:08:36Sen. Hoeven: We set it up for a one-year review which I think is helpful and something the chairman of this committee wanted to do, giving us a one year time frame to work on it. I think one of the concerns is moving the existing for this year out. We are working on that. So I guess if you have any insight into that, somebody on your staff does, we want to touch base.
▶ 2:09:02Amb. Greer: We are happy to help.
▶ 2:09:06Sen. Hoeven: Thank you for the important work you are doing. Thank you, Mr. chairman and Mr. ranking member.
▶ 2:09:12Chair Moran: I think we are about done. Let me use my usual practice of asking you, ambassador, the witness if there is anything you wish you hadn't said.
▶ 2:09:24Amb. Greer: That I hadn't said?
▶ 2:09:26Chair Moran: Anything you want to make sure we hear based on the totality of the questions you have been asked and any thoughts that came to you while sitting there.
▶ 2:09:35Amb. Greer: You will get a lawyer talking and they don't stop talking. The point I want everyone to take away is that we can't just keep the status quo. If we continue the type of trade policy and global trade system we have been working under for decades, we will continue to have the result we have, which is that all the manufacturing is going to china and vietnam and elsewhere and all of our manufacturers, all of the
▶ 2:10:05Amb. Greer: Factories we lost following nafta, none of that will change. We have to have a change. It would be wonderful to have years and years to develop the ideal trade industrial policy and implement it over several years but we don't have that kind of time. The biden administration did a lot of studies on critical supply chains which were interesting and I read them. To the ranking member scott point, president biden kept the tariffs on china.
▶ 2:10:36Amb. Greer: We have to take action. I'm constantly trying to find ways to calibrate the tariff program. And the president had an interview yesterday where he talked about the possibility of calibration on a country by country basis to open markets to export more. That helps achieve balance. We are trying to use tariffs to control the import flow so we don't have a giant deficit the drives off shoring.
▶ 2:11:03Amb. Greer: I can't control of the countries. I can influence them if I have leverage, which tariffs give me. They protect our industry but they also give me leverage and that is why we keep some tariffs and take some of them off. We are going country by country. If you look at the program that has been established the highest tariffs are china, asia, vietnam where there is overcapacity. It is not being anti-anybody, it is pro-america and pro-american worker.
▶ 2:11:29Amb. Greer: The further you get away from the locus of overcapacity, the lower tariffs work. We have giant surpluses with japan that exist because of nonmarket practices, not because europe is competitive. They have terrible policy when it comes to energy and regulation. It is because of unfair trade practices. When you go to the western hemisphere that is where we have the lower tariffs and that is strategic, where we want a lot of arson I chains.
▶ 2:11:57Amb. Greer: So we need to get to world -- a world where trade is managed and balance for the benefit of americans. We have to have that, because if we keep going with the status quo it is not going to work. We aren't going to get to a situation where we can weather whatever geopolitical storms are coming. Sounds dramatic but this is what we are doing.
▶ 2:12:21Chair Moran: I indicated over a long period of time that we need trade agreements and we need them enforced. The corollary to that is we need fair trade, and I would highlight the importance of the nontariff barriers when we negotiate trade agreements. It is not just the most important part may not just be a percentage of the tariff. It may be the nontariff issues keeping products out.
▶ 2:12:49Chair Moran: Even if we had no tariffs at all, others have been successful in finding ways of keeping american products out of their economies and out of their countries, even though the tariffs could be the same. Anything else?
▶ 2:13:04Amb. Greer: Thank you for your time, appreciate your questions and happy to work with any of you on anything.
▶ 2:13:12Chair Moran: This hearing will be concluded in a moment. First of all, we indicated members of the committee may submit written questions to you. We ask that they would do so rapidly and we ask you when your team to respond to them rapidly as well.
▶ 2:13:28Amb. Greer: Happy to do so.
▶ 2:13:30Chair Moran: With that, the hearing is adjourned.