Lynch: President’s plan will harm U.S. manufacturing
U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, one of the labor movement’s staunchest advocates in Congress, is pushing back against proposed tariffs on aluminum and steel, saying the move by the Trump administration will hurt U.S. manufacturing.
“Unfortunately, this happened; a lot of people were blindsided by this, so it’s raised the specter of a trade war, which won’t be good for anyone,” Lynch said yesterday during an appearance on Boston Herald Radio. “We do have a problem with some countries dumping steel into the U.S. markets, but there’s a better way to handle this that won’t shut down U.S. manufacturing.”
Last week, the White House announced new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, a decision that has been sharply criticized by legislators on both sides of the aisle, including Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Critics have said industries that rely on the metals for manufacturing — including the auto and beverage industries — will be hurt, while the White House says the decision will help American steelworkers.
The specifics of the tariffs are still unclear. The White House said yesterday that some countries, including Mexico and Canada, may be exempt, and the tariffs are expected to be finalized and signed sometime this week.
Lynch, a former ironworker, acknowledged that some countries are flooding the U.S. with cheap steel, but stressed a more targeted approach would have been better.
“Instead of putting a tariff on the entire world, he could have identified six, maybe eight countries that really are abusive in terms of their pricing,” Lynch said. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of smart people who support these tariffs.”
Disagreement within the White House over the announcement reportedly led to the resignation Tuesday of Trump’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn.
And though he said he strongly disagrees with the tariffs, Lynch declined to express support for Cohn, who formerly served as president of Goldman Sachs.
“I just don’t think we should have a whole lot of Goldman Sachs people in the White House,” Lynch said. “There’s a duality of interests that give me some great concerns.”