Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, during a televised interview, condemned President Trump's tariff shock imposed on Canada, Mexico, and China. The senator warned that the uncalculated tariffs will burden taxpayers and disrupt economic stability. He cited previous actions that forced costly subsidies on American farmers, official sources say.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, criticized President Donald Trump for introducing sweeping tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China. Senator Van Hollen argued that these tariffs will result in significant financial burdens for American taxpayers.
Van Hollen cited Trump's billion-dollar subsidy program for soy bean farmers hit hard by his tariff policies during his first term as an example on Velshi Sunday on MSNBC.
According to Van Hollen, the situation arose when Trump, during his first term in office, placed tariffs on certain Chinese products. However, as a result, many U.S. exports were blocked, and the American people, as taxpayers, ended up footing the bill for massive subsidies to large-scale farmers.
Consequently, this stupid move will ultimately be paid for by the American taxpayer and the American people.
The senator stated that it was difficult to understand what Trump's strategy was with regard to this round of tariffs, The Raw Story shares.
"I mean, take Canada for example. It's just not clear what the president's endgame is with Canada; there's not an immigration issue. There's not a big fentanyl issue with respect to Canada. So, the president is just using these so-called emergency powers to levy tariffs, but the price will be paid by the American people, and without a strategy behind it, this is just folly."
Right, to safeguard important industries like semiconductors and steel, Van Hollen went on to say that he supports strategic, targeted tariffs. He acknowledges the significance of these areas, but says that blanket tariffs would amount to a tax increase on all Americans, who will soon suffer the effects of this betrayal of Trump's campaign promise.
"This is also a prelude to a big tax break that the president is planning for the wealthiest people. So, I can tell you, Elon Musk doesn't - he's not going to feel the impact of the price increases from these tariffs. And then he's going to get a huge tax break windfall. So, yeah, this is a betrayal of all the people that President Trump said he wanted to help."