House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) joined Neil Cavuto on FOX News yesterday to discuss the importance of trade in continuing to grow America’s economy.

CLICK HERE or above to watch the full interview.

 

In response to news about potential steel and aluminum tariffs, Chairman Brady said:

“The President is right to target unfairly traded steel and aluminum, but blanket tariffs that sweep in fairly traded products can backfire – they can actually hurt American jobs and workers.”

 

He added:

“We want to make sure these fairly traded products are not caught up in this blanket tariff. Again, tariffs are taxes. So, lower is better, zero is the best. You want to make sure this is done right.”

 

Read more excerpts from Chairman Brady’s interview below:

 

On the need for a modernized NAFTA:

“We want to build off of momentum of the tax cuts. Energize the economy. We want more customers, that’s critical. That’s why the trade agreements, a modernized NAFTA is so critical for us. I’m heading down, leading a delegation to the seventh round of the NAFTA talks this weekend. We want to help President Trump modernize this agreement and create more jobs for us.”

 

On how we can use trade deals to keep our economy growing:

“The President’s focused on manufacturing in a major way, trade deficits in a major way, and he doesn’t want to outsource more American jobs. I think our tax cuts and new tax code go a long way toward solving a lot of that. I think modern, new agreements, like with Mexico and Canada, can go another long way with creating the jobs and getting more customers. There’s some good work to be done here that can be awfully helpful. Again, you always just want to avoid in a complicated economy with complicated products, you don’t want to do anything that backfires on us.”

 

On a more targeted approach to China’s overcapacity:

“There is a major problem with China’s overcapacity. There are some other issues — the President is right to deal with it. But you want to make sure this doesn’t backfire on U.S. workers. That’s why, again, the President has not yet issued these tariffs. He’s been continuing to listen. What I’m urging him to do is narrow this. Make sure you’re exempting fairly traded products. Grandfather existing products so there’s not disruption.”