Terminating the National Emergency Declared to Impose Duties on Articles Imported From Canada

Floor Speech

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Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues who are in support of Senator Kaine's, I think, thoughtful approach on how we can put an end to this tariff war with Canada.

I have got to tell you that one of the things about working with Tim Kaine for 40 years is he always keeps a hugely optimistic view of things. Boy, do I need a dose of Tim Kaine optimism today because we have seen in our national security domain a reckless disregard for classified information and no one, so far, held accountable. What a message that sends to our allies and to the men and women who work in our military or in our intelligence. If they did the same behavior with the so-called Signalgate, they would be fired.

I need Tim Kaine optimism today because the long-awaited Republican budget resolution adds $6 trillion to the deficit--$4 trillion in funny math and about another $2 trillion for tax cuts. That then brings us to not my words but to Peter Navarro's words, whom I happened to meet with on a Sunday, who said that these groups of tariffs will add $6 trillion in revenues.

Who do you think is going to pay for that? Candidly, it is going to be the people who buy the Presiding Officer's cars at those great dealerships in Ohio. It is going to be folks in Virginia. We had one of our brewers in yesterday who has already laid off 20 percent of his staff because he imports malted pilsner from Canada.

What we are seeing with Trump is not ``America First.'' What it is going to be is ``America Alone.'' I say to anybody--and I spend way too much time in a SCIF, I know--but ``America Alone'' is not an America that is safer.

Then the notion or idea that we have picked on our longest best friend in many ways--I am a little biased; my mom's parents were from Canada. But the notion that this President is trying to turn Canada into an enemy is beyond belief. You know, I talked with the senior Canadian leader just the other day.

He said: Mark, you know, even if, tomorrow, Trump says, ``Never mind,'' as he has gone back and forth a dozen times, or says, ``No harm, no foul,'' the damage we will have done to the relationship between America and Canada will take years to recover from.

Senator Shaheen just mentioned airplane flights are down 75 percent. America's national anthem is booed at hockey games. We had another person in who ships whiskey--Virginia bourbon--up to Canada. If all the tariffs are off tomorrow, which they will not be, it will be years, if ever, that Canadians will be buying American bourbon.

So, in dreamland, $6 trillion of tariffs, you know, is the largest tax increase in American history. I believe it actually goes beyond World War I.

Of the so-called ``Liberation Day,'' the only thing that is liberating is this administration liberating Americans from their savings because the market is down. They are liberating businesses from their supply chains because of so much disruption. They are liberating consumers from their hard-earned money because this is going to translate into increased costs.

This isn't partisan. This isn't Democrat-Republican. This is math. And no matter how much the President wants to strut on the South Lawn-- and I am glad to see at least the South Lawn was being used for an announcement today as opposed to another day of a Tesla show lot--who is going to bear the brunt of this? It is going to be Americans. It is going to be Canadians. It is going to be the people around the world.

I am sure my friend has already mentioned this: Particularly from Virginia's standpoint, Canada is our second biggest trading partner. Virginia's businesses export approximately $3.3 billion worth of products to Canada. We import about $3.2 billion. Virginia's farmers sell about $430 million of goods to Canada. A lot of Virginia peanuts go to Canada. They are not going to be going. That is going to hurt our economy. As a matter of fact, in Virginia, 280,000 jobs in Virginia depend on trade and investment with Canada.

I know, as Governor, I went--and I know, Senator Kaine, as Governor, you went--because Canada is one of our best partners. What would the reception be tomorrow if we showed up in Ottawa?

This is not going to be just another economic policy. This is at the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, and combined with the so-called reciprocal tariffs around the world, it is the lifeblood of the American economy.

I know Senator Van Hollen is going to say a lot of the same things that I was going to say.

I would just say to the Presiding Officer again: I know he sells great cars, but I am not sure if even folks in Ohio are going to be able to afford $2,000 or $5,000 more per car just because of ill-suited tariffs.

So I would hope that folks on both sides of the aisle will actually stand up to ``America First.'' Reject this misguided tariff strategy. Reject this demonization of Canada. Recognize that ``America First'' doesn't have to be ``America Alone.''

The only thing that could make my day actually better at this point, beyond that little dose of Kaine optimism, is if the Senate finally comes to its senses tonight and endorses Tim's resolution, and we put an end to this misguided economic policy.

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