Rep. Adam Smith: Trump’s ‘Ignorance’ of Impact of Empty Ports and Trade Slowdown Is ‘Remarkable’

EXCERPT:

SMITH: “I mean, the ignorance of that is remarkable. I mean, we are getting something for that money. We are getting goods, goods that are, you know, in many cases necessary to our economy. The question is, you know, are the goods worth what we’re paying for them? For the president to say, well, as long as we’re not buying anything, we are therefore better off, that’s just a remarkable statement. It depends on what are you getting for the money that you’re spending. So, if he views it as a positive when we are unable to buy things, I mean, let’s just take aluminum and steel for an example, or drywall, which we buy a lot from Mexico. We buy those things and then we manufacture and that’s jobs. That’s jobs and it’s also goods produced. So if we’re not able to buy those things, we’re not able to grow our economy. And also, a lot of the goods from China, the household items, people need those things, you know, they’re part of how we live. So, I certainly hope the president’s people have a more sophisticated way of looking at trade than the president seems to.”