From PBS NewsHour.
Sen. Ron Johnson implored U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to carefully consider labor issues and the effects on small businesses when preparing for the effects of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on U.S. manufacturers.
"We want fair trade, but I hope you recognize, you know, tariffs are a double-edged sword," Johnson said, calling them a "blunt instrument."
Johnson told Greer, who appeared Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee, he’d been in manufacturing since the late 1970s.
Back then, "you couldn’t hire enough people in manufacturing back then. The situation’s even got worse," he told Greer.
Johnson cautioned against bringing back "high-labor content products" because "I think a bigger problem is we don’t have enough workers."
Responding to a question about how he planned to address that issue, Greer said "the factories that are being built and will be built in the United States will leverage both automation and workers."
"It’s not the kind of labor that’s done in some of these other countries, I think our folks are innovative and the newest factories use a lot of automation, but also workers and people who make the products that the industrial robots that contribute to that automation," Greer said. "I think we need to be in a situation where we have production here."
"I just really ask you and the president to focus on the products we actually need as opposed to using this broad instrument. There’s going to be an awful lot of collateral damage. People are already feeling that pain, so I hope you’re sensitive to that," Johnson said.
Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
X: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour
