'Who's Liberated?': Angela Alsobrooks Torches Trump's Tariffs On 'Liberation Day'

2 days ago

At a Senate Democratic press briefing, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) slammed President Trump's tariffs.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00I thank Leader Schumer and Senators Kaine and Welch for being here today.

00:05You know, President Trump has dubbed today Liberation Day, and I continue to think how

00:12tone-deaf and how arrogant it is because I'm asking myself, for whom, you know, who's liberated?

00:19And I think that—

00:20Elon Musk.

00:21Elon Musk, yeah.

00:22I think the reality of it is that middle class and hardworking families like the one I grew

00:26up in, I regard myself in so many ways as having grown up in a blue-collar family.

00:31A father who was a car salesman, a mother who's a receptionist, and the fact of the

00:35matter is the people who are being liberated are the billionaires.

00:39None of his policies, including these tariffs, anticipate any relief for hardworking and

00:45middle class families.

00:46And so those who will be liberated are not us.

00:49And furthermore, he went on to say very arrogantly, you know, there's going to be a little pain,

00:54some minor pain and disruption, but the people that I represent don't regard increasing cost

01:00of groceries, increasing cost of owning a home, increasing cost of owning an automobile

01:06as a minor disruption.

01:07But it is a minor disruption to billionaires who can certainly not only afford the increasing

01:13cost of goods, but who will also enjoy a tax cut on the back end of this.

01:18We know that the taxes that we're looking at, the tax cuts will net, we believe, Elon

01:24Musk, about $50 million in tax cuts over a 10-year period.

01:28So just the cynical nature of these tariffs is really, really very disturbing.

01:36And so I have, my first bill is a Tariff Transparency Act.

01:41That has been filed.

01:42I'm going to go to the floor today and ask for unanimous consent on.

01:46And if it is, in fact, the case that these tariffs are a minor disruption and this is

01:52Liberation Day, we're simply asking this administration and my colleagues on the other

01:55side of the aisle to prove it, to be transparent with the American people, to tell us the cost

02:01of these tariffs.

02:02And I can tell you, I've met in my state with people from every corner of the state.

02:07Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with farmers.

02:11Some were poultry farmers.

02:12I met with business owners, and many of them feel betrayed by this administration.

02:18The farmers who said, you know what, now not only the retaliatory tariffs will cost

02:24so much money, some were selling chicken parts to other countries, and they've said to me,

02:28you know, this is going to cost us money.

02:31And they did not anticipate that they would see actions that harm them as well.

02:36And so I want them to prove to us, who does it benefit?

02:38That's a question that I think is a fair question, is when he says a little pain, who does he

02:44mean?

02:45Who should sustain the pain?

02:46And I would say it absolutely should not be the middle class and hardworking families

02:52of this country who pay for the tax cuts for his billionaire friends and who suffer beneath

02:57these tariffs.

02:58And so we say, again, if it's a minor disruption, and this is Liberation Day, we just simply

03:02want to know who should be liberated.

03:04And I think that the Transparency Act will show us that.

'Who's Liberated?': Angela Alsobrooks Torches Trump's Tariffs On 'Liberation Day'

Category

Transcript

Recommended