During Senate proceedings to confirm Jamieson Greer as U.S. Trade Representative, the Senate Finance Committee should ensure that Greer will make tariff decisions that are based on the economic interest of the American public, not Trump’s business interests.  CREW submitted a statement for the record to the Senate Finance Committee urging Congress to examine how Greer will approach tariffs should he be confirmed as the U.S. Trade Representative.

During his first term, Trump conflicts of interest and failure to divest from his businesses impacted economic policy, including tariffs. Trump’s failure to divest this time around impact not only trade relations and diplomacy efforts—they also impact unemployment rates, inflation rates and national security.

For example, in 2018 the U.S. worked with Argentina and several other countries to eliminate aluminum and steel tariffs contingent on limiting steel exports. President Trump undermined that agreement by restoring the tariffs only after the Trump Organization received approval for a trademark in Argentina. As a result, steel producers struggled to get sales from drillers, and Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is one of the companies who had to lay off employees, shut down their blast furnace and experienced a 43% decrease in their stock.

Trump’s first term conflicts in Türkiye is another example of how his unchecked conflicts of interest likely impacted U.S. domestic and foreign policy decisions. Türkiye President Tayyip Erdoğan threatened to remove the Trump name from his Türkiye property in 2016 as a result of Trump’s proposed Muslim Ban. Trump then spent much of his presidency acting favorably to the country—suddenly pulling out of northern Syria, moving to abandon America’s Kurdish allies after a call with Erdoğan and staying silent as the Turkish president’s bodyguards beat peaceful protesters in the street in Washington, D.C. 

During his most recent campaign, Trump advocated for tariffs against Mexico, but a CREW investigation revealed that behind closed doors, he was working to obtain a Trump Tower trademark in the country.  The public needs to understand how Trump’s conflicts and ethical failures threaten to impact economic policy and the economic futures of Americans who are looking to his new administration to reduce inflation and lower their costs.

The Committee needs to ask Greer probing questions about how he will ensure that Trump’s conflicts and financial entanglements will not impact American trade policy. It is Congress’ duty, should Greer be confirmed, to conduct robust oversight to ensure that is the case. 

Read the testimony here.

Header photo by C-SPAN.

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