Rep. Ro Khanna took sharp purpose at President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff insurance policies on Sunday, warning they’ll elevate costs on American electronics slightly than deliver manufacturing jobs again to the USA.
“I perceive they’ve Nineteenth century insurance policies of McKinley, however they should have a Twenty first century understanding of the economic system,” Khanna (D-Calif) stated on CBS’ “Face the Nation, referencing the Trump administration’s protectionist commerce method and his admiration for President William McKinley. Critics of Trump’s tariff coverage have argued that the teachings of McKinley’s Nineteenth century America are usually not relevant as we speak.
The California Democrat stated the White Home’s plan to revive home manufacturing is already unraveling, pointing to the Trump administration’s resolution to exempt smartphones and computer systems from his tariff regime after monetary markets spiraled into chaos final week over his sweeping world tariffs announcement.
“They have been chaotic and so they have been completely haphazard,” Khanna stated. “So that you had Howard Lutnick on, saying that we have been going to deliver manufacturing again, and electronics manufacturing again, to the USA, and so they realized abruptly that that wasn’t going to occur.”
“Really, the iPhone value would go as much as 1,700 or 2,000 {dollars},” he continued. “And by the way in which, if that manufacturing moved, it will in all probability transfer to Malaysia or Vietnam.”
Khanna, whose district contains Silicon Valley, argued that if the U.S. actually needs to compete with China and rebuild superior manufacturing, it wants funding — not tariffs.
“If you wish to deliver again the manufacturing to the USA, you need to spend money on the workforce, you need to have some funding tax credit score for the amenities, and you’ve got to have the ability to purchase the issues we make in the USA,” he stated.
Khanna’s remarks come forward of a speech he’s anticipated to present on Monday in Ohio — Vice President JD Vance’s residence state — the place he plans to solid Vance and Trump as “stubbornly cling[ing] to Nineteenth-century dogma in a Twenty first-century world” with their method to overseas and home coverage. The speech is also a part of a broader push led by Khanna to place himself as a counterweight to Vance.
“This isn’t one thing the president will be capable of spin,” Khanna stated. “Both we’ll see new factories come or we’re not, and tariffs simply aren’t going to do this. “
