WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) joined MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss Donald Trump’s chaotic use of indiscriminate tariffs. These tariffs are driving up costs and creating uncertainty for small businesses across the country, and according to the New York Times, are accelerating inflation. Pocan also addressed the “Big Ugly Law,” stressing that it would rip healthcare away from 17 million Americans, slash food assistance for millions more, and add trillions of dollars to the national debt—all to pay for massive tax breaks for Trump’s ultra-wealthy donors.
Click here to watch the full interview
Excerpts of Rep. Pocan’s remarks below.
On Trump’s Tariffs
“The problem is, Donald Trump doesn’t really have a tariff policy or an industrial policy. He has edicts like he’s the king of Trumpistan, but he doesn’t do what a president should do: work with Congress, and you can have tariffs. You can use them wisely, but Donald Trump doesn’t do that. He just throws them out indiscriminately. There’s no rhyme or reason to the numbers or who gets them. At the end of the day, a small business, like I recently visited in Evansville, Wisconsin, is getting invoices and it has a tariff fee added, a 15% or whatever it is, from whatever country. People with a bike store are having a hard time getting kids’ bikes that aren’t going to have tariffs in time for the holidays. It’s got a real impact on those local mom and pop businesses in remote places in Wisconsin, and Donald Trump doesn’t care, because he is just creating edicts like he’s some kind of king.”
“I have to admit, I had a meeting I enjoyed too much, Lawrence, where a bunch of Republican, Trump-voting business people were complaining about the tariffs. I said, ‘Elections have consequences, don’t they?’ They didn’t really say much, but they’re definitely impacted, and those costs get passed on to consumers. This is just another tax from Donald Trump. He didn’t address the cost of living like he promised, and now he’s taking us in the completely wrong direction by giving us new taxes through these tariffs. The problem is that, because they’re so indiscriminate, and there’s not really a policy to them, you never know when you’re going to pay more for things. I saw that tomatoes are about to increase with the tariffs coming from Mexico, and I saw a restaurant owner saying they may not be in business in 45 days if they’re still existing.”
On the Big Ugly Law and Trump’s Policies
“Whether it be the fact that [Trump is] not addressing the cost of living, whether he’s adding these tariffs, his taxes on us, the fact that 17 million people will lose health care, millions of people lose food assistance, millions of people will lose education funding, and then the ripple effects of adding trillions of dollars to the debt while he gets a tax cut, and Elon Musk gets a tax cut, and the lower 30% of people actually pay more for the big ugly bill they passed.”
“Donald Trump cares about one thing: Donald Trump. As long as he’s getting a tax cut, as long as he’s getting something out of this, some connection with a ruler of another country, and he can put a hotel up or something, that’s what he cares about. The problem is, for all the people in my district who have been calling our office at record numbers this year, health insurance matters. For people on the Affordable Care Act, losing the subsidy, I was told a couple who are 60 years old, making $85,000 a year, could see their premiums go up as much as $16,000 next year. You may not be able to afford health insurance anymore. And then there’s the ripple effects; those rural hospitals and nursing homes are going to be affected. There’s just so much that’s going to happen, and they even made sure that some of them didn’t take place till after the next election, but the ACA cuts people are going to feel right away.”
