Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says the array of tariffs President Trump announced yesterday will pressure other countries to strike new trade deals with the U.S.
“I think Americans can clearly see that we’ve been getting a raw deal,” Hinson said. “Many of these countries have been taking advantage of us and I think it’s high time that we stand our ground and I support the president in doing that.”
Hinson, a Republican from Marion, predicts there will be “new American opportunities and new jobs” created through Trump’s tariff policies. “When I look at what President Biden did wreak havoc on the ag economy, he put trade on the back burner and Iowa ag suffered from that,” Hinson said. “And I think President Trump’s goal in what happened yesterday is free and fair trade and he is using these tariffs as a negotiating tool to bring other countries to the table.”
However, Hinson says she, like many people, is watching what the stock market is doing today and shares the concerns about the immediate impact of the tariffs.
“I was actually at the White House last week for a ‘Women’s Day’ celebration with the president and he said: ‘Check back with me in a year, to see how these policies have worked,'” Hinson said this morning. “I think it’s important that we give him not only the tools, but the time to get these other countries to…the conversation, to the table.”
Hinson, who held her weekly telephone news conference with Iowa reporters this morning, said it’s important to enforce Trump’s tariff policies.
“That’s an area where I’ve been very focused,” Hinson says. “I just recently reintroduced my trade crimes bill again just a few weeks ago — a bipartisan bill, a bicameral bill — that is designed to go after these bad actors who are continually trying to evade our tariffs and duties,” Hinson said. “They’re going so far as to ship things to other countries (and) relabel them to get around our tariffs. That has got to stop and accountability is here.”