Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) argued for tariffs in the only vice presidential debate with Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), calling for tariffs to move American workers away from cheap foreign labor. He emphasized that he would protect it.
Mr. Vance accused Mr. Walz of attacking Trump's trade policies as a “national sales tax,” when in fact they protect American jobs and wages.
“I want to talk about this tariff issue, especially Margaret, because Tim just criticized this as a national sales tax,” Vance said. “Look, one thing is, you're probably surprised to hear me praising Joe Biden, but one of the things Joe Biden has done is protect American manufacturing jobs. It's a continuation of some of the Trump tariffs.”
“This is the most pro-worker part of the Biden administration and the only issue where Kamala Harris is running away from Joe Biden's record,” he added.
Vance then gave an example of how tariffs could be used to protect China's cheap labor, which could drive down domestic wages.
“Think about it: If you're going to hire slave laborers in China for $3 a day, you're not going to do that unless our country stands up for itself and says, 'You're not.' “If we don't pay middle-class Americans a fair wage, we won't have access to our markets,” he said.
Another example of how tariffs are used to protect American jobs came to light last week during a roundtable discussion with Pennsylvania farmers. President Trump, flanked by two Joe Deere tractors, vowed to impose a 200 percent tariff on all John Deere products imported from Mexico if manufacturing were moved there.
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“I'm putting John Deere on notice right now. If you do that, we're going to impose a 200% tariff on everything you want to sell to the United States,” Trump said.
