Sánchez Opening Statement at Trade Subcommittee Hearing
(As prepared for delivery)
As the Ranking Member of the Trade Subcommittee, I want to see new trade arrangements with partners committed to advancing worker rights, protecting the environment, providing access to medicines, defending human rights, safeguarding intellectual property rights, fighting against corruption, and creating conditions for fair competition.
But this cannot be done without a trusted negotiating partner in the White House – one who thinks solely about what’s best for the American people and its workers – and a Republican party ready to stand with us to protect the constitution and rule of law.
Since our last Trade Subcommittee hearing only a month ago, President Trump has recklessly thrown around tariff authority against our closest trading partners. Congress delegated national security and trade authority to prior presidents under the belief that they could be trusted with that power. But in less than 70 days, we have seen how President Trump distorts and weaponizes that delegated authority to serve his own interest, settle old scores, and, most alarming of all, to destabilize America’s economic and security standing in the world.
The president’s trade wars have trampled the rule of law and the legal framework American businesses rely on for trade with Canada and Mexico. As we will hear from Mr. Jonathan Root today, the president’s trade war prompted Canada to retaliate with a 25 percent tariff on all American motorcycles, including union-made Harleys from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. American businesses, including those in the creative industry, fighting trade barriers in Canada and Mexico, have been just one casualty of this trade war.
And to top it all off, the president appears hellbent on acquiring Greenland, annexing Canada, and pillaging the natural resources of our trading partners. The administration’s gutting of federal agencies has also hurt American businesses that rely on them to enforce worker and environmental rights.
We cannot afford to have the federal government stop advocating for American ranchers and farmers facing SPS barriers overseas, for U.S. service providers fighting technical trade barriers, and for creative and tech sectors facing intellectual property theft abroad.
President Trump’s attempts to circumvent Congress, dismantle our federal government, and act as the sole arbiter of U.S. trade policy, are an assault on the constitutional norms that have guided congressional leadership on trade since the beginning of America’s founding. I look forward to hearing from Professor Claussen about the importance of congressional authority over trade.
House Democrats should not stand alone in fighting to re-assert our Congressional authority. I want to remind my Republican colleagues that last Congress this committee unanimously approved legislation, sponsored by Chairman Jason Smith, noting a president lacks the authority to enter into binding trade agreements absent approval from Congress. If President Trump seeks to enter into a binding trade agreement with any country, he must seek congressional approval.
House Democrats are willing to work across the aisle to craft trade agreements that can garner broad, bipartisan support in Congress. During the first Trump administration’s renegotiation of NAFTA, House Democrats fought for better labor and environmental standards, access to medicine, and closing enforcement loopholes. Despite the President’s initial pushback, we created a new facility-specific labor enforcement mechanism that has delivered real gains for workers in America and abroad. We were successful in making these demands because the President knew he needed Congressional votes to approve his updated NAFTA.
I hope this hearing will be an opportunity for this body to lay out bipartisan priorities in trade negotiations and reclaim Constitutional prerogatives.
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