Swing District Republican Says WH on 45-Day Clock to Get Trade Results
Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who helped Republicans recapture the House majority in 2022, said Congress will seek to intervene if the administration seeks to re-implement the high country-specific reciprocal tariffs that it had planned but paused for 90 days.
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Lawler said in a hallway interview at the Capitol that he wants to see results in 30 to 45 days. When asked if he'd be fine with a permanent 10% global tariff, he said, "You have countries that have continuously had barriers to entry for us, goods and products, price controls on U.S. goods. You look at Europe, prescription drug price controls. Who pays for that? We do. So when people complain about high drug costs, they do realize like we're subsidizing other countries, right? I mean, I don't know why people want that to continue, but I certainly don't. It should stop. So the objective should be for a negotiation, which is what I said from the very beginning, that if this is a short-term negotiating tool, it can be effective."
He said once trade deals are announced, market volatility should subside.
"This is actually better for the U.S. economy long-term, because if, for instance, Japan starts allowing U.S. cars to come into the market, that's a positive thing, isn't it?"
President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on most Canadian products and 10% tariffs on energy products and some fertilizer, ostensibly to pressure Canada to halt drug smuggling and migration, not to get Canada to lower trade barriers.
When asked if he would like a return to duty-free trade with Canada, Lawler replied, "Canada's economy is almost entirely reliant on the United States. Right? Sixty percent of their GDP is based on the U.S. Forty percent of their trade is with us."
The correct figures, according to Scotiabank, are that Canadian exports accounted for 34% of the country's GDP, though Canada also imports heavily from the U.S., and so the combined two-way trade in goods and services accounts for 67% of GDP. Exports to the U.S. are 77% of Canadian exports.
Lawler is right that Canada ranks among the most trade-dependent countries, though less so than Mexico and Vietnam, and comparable to Cambodia and Thailand.
"Canada will collapse if there's not an agreement," Lawler continued. "For all the Canadian blustering over the last two months for, you know, their own political purposes, at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure Canada is going to negotiate a deal, because they will be the biggest loser if they don't."