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Greer Delivers Opening Statement on President Trump's Tariff Policy

April 8, 2025 · The White House · 0:01:22

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer delivered an opening statement on President Trump’s tariff policy in a clip carried by the White House. Greer said, as he stated it, that the previous Wednesday President Trump declared a national emergency in response to the large and persistent trade deficit built up in recent years, driven in part by non-reciprocal tariffs, trade barriers, and other economic policies of foreign trading partners.

Greer said, as he stated it, that the president imposed tariffs to address the emergency, aimed squarely at achieving reciprocity, reducing the massive trade deficit, and reshoring production in the United States, and that the declaration and tariff action are the most significant change in U.S. trade policy since China was allowed to join the World Trade Organization.

Greer said, as he stated it, that the American working class in particular has suffered concentrated losses from the so-called China shock and other adverse effects of past trade policy, that the deficit has been over 30 years in the making and will not be resolved overnight, and that the country must move away from an economy based solely on government spending and the financial sector toward one producing real goods and services that provide jobs for working- and middle-class Americans.

Why it matters

The appearance bears directly on the administration’s economic record — jobs, trade, and taxes — and its stated figures are the claims against which outcomes will be compared.

Sources: The White House, “U.S. Trade Rep Jamieson Greer’s Opening Statement on President Trump’s Tariff Policy”, 2025-04-08 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-04-08). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.