U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer discusses tariff policy with the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna discusses the latest developments on her proxy vote proposal.

White House faces questions on tariff policy

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer appeared before the Senate Finance Committee today to discuss the administration’s economic agenda.

Much of the questions he faced centered on the strategy behind the president’s tariffs.

So far, Greer said dozens of countries have reached out to the administration to begin negotiations.

“Several of these countries, such as Argentina, Vietnam, India, and Israel, have suggested that they will reduce their tariffs and non-tariff barriers in line with the president’s policy, and these obviously are welcome moves. Our large and persistent trade deficit has been over 30 years in the making, and it will not be resolved overnight, but all of this is in the right direction,” Greer said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C. Just yesterday, discussing the 17% tariffs on his country.

Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia have said they will send delegations to the U.S. Capitol for negotiations.

And Italy’s prime minister said today that she will meet with President Donald Trump next week to propose a zero-for-zero approach to tariffs.

“Vietnam, for example, they’ve lowered their tariffs already on cherries, they’ve lowered them on almonds and apples, things that I know are important to the Pacific Northwest. And this is exactly the right direction we want to go in. I look forward to hearing from you what other kind of market access you want as we enter these negotiations,” Greer said.

The White House also confirmed that the newest tariffs will take effect Wednesday.

That includes an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods after China opted not to rescind its most recent tariff hike on American goods by the president’s noon deadline today.

Last week, the Chinese government claimed that South Korea and Japan might join China in its response to the tariffs, something that seems less likely given Japan’s apparent willingness to negotiate with the Trump administration.

Today, South Korea’s acting president gave similar indications in an exclusive interview with CNN.

“If some of the mutually satisfactory agreements can be made, I think the U.S. can adjust their already imposed tariff depending on the negotiations between the two countries, then clearly the final outcome, I think it would be much better than one side impose something and the other side is actually retaliates and things like that,” Acting President of South Korea Han Duck-Soo said.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna discusses the latest developments on the proxy vote bill

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna discusses the latest developments on hurricane recovery in Florida, as well as the results of her ongoing discussions with Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson regarding her proposal on allowing proxy voting for members of Congress.