Ranking Member Shaheen Remarks at Supreme Court Ahead of Trump Tariffs Case

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered opening remarks in front of the Supreme Court ahead of oral arguments in the case on President Trump's imposition of tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). In her remarks, Ranking Member Shaheen outlined how these tariff taxes have raised prices for families and hurt exporters, and she questioned why China now has lower tariff barriers than our allies and partners, like Canada.

You can watch her opening remarks here.

"What we've seen is that we've already lost, since the tariff regimen was imposed, 42,000 manufacturing jobs," said Ranking Member Shaheen. "I can tell you that in New Hampshire, every business that I visited since Trump imposed these tariffs says that it's not just the cost of the tariffs. I mean, that's bad enough, but it's the uncertainty, because they can't get investors, they can't expand. They don't know what's going to happen with their employees."

Ranking Member Shaheen also laid out the impact of these tariffs to small businesses, including in her home state of New Hampshire.

"I visited a bakery in Derry, New Hampshire, that has about 85%-or had, because now he's out of business-had about 85% of his contracts with Canada. When the President imposed those tariffs on Canada and attacked Canada, our closest ally, he lost all of his Canadian contracts," said Ranking Member Shaheen. "And then I visited a manufacturing company in Dover, what they told me is that they had planned an expansion. They were looking for investors, but that's on hold right now because they nobody wants to invest, because they don't know what the President is going to do tomorrow on these tariffs. So, all of this economic pain is on the backs of Americans who are already suffering the high cost of living."

Finally, the Senator questioned why President Trump is punishing our allies and partners with sky-high tariffs, while China gets lower tariffs.

"It's also important to note, as the President has been touting his deal with China after his visit to the Indo-Pacific last week, that in reality, that just clawed back part of what we lost when he started this trade war," said Ranking Member Shaheen. "China now faces lower tariffs than India and Canada. Get that-our biggest competitor in the world, China is getting lower tariffs than our closest neighbor and ally, Canada. That is not a regimen that makes sense in terms of the economic future of this country.

The Ranking Member's remarks, as delivered, are below.

Thank you to my colleagues this morning, to all of the small businesses who are here and to all of you for joining us.

You heard what some of the arguments are going to be on today before the Supreme Court, we have 36 bipartisan Senators and 171 House members who have joined a brief in opposition to what the President is doing using the International Economic Emergency Economic Powers Act.

And as Senator Klobuchar said, it doesn't mention tariffs once in that act, and it also says the President is going to use that act he needs to come to Congress, and he hasn't done that, as we've heard, these tariffs are being paid by American families who are going to spend about $1,800 more on average this year because of those tariffs.

And in New Hampshire, where we are a small business state, we have a housing crisis, housing costs, which are already out of reach, are going to go up about $10,000 or more because of the tariffs the President has imposed on key materials, and rather than supporting us manufacturing, which has been his argument. You know, he says, 'Well, if we put these tariffs in place, we're going to create manufacturing jobs in this country.'

But what we've seen is that we've already lost, since the tariff regimen was imposed, 42,000 manufacturing jobs. And I can tell you that in New Hampshire, every business that I visited since Trump imposed these tariffs says that it's not just the cost of the tariffs. I mean, that's bad enough, but it's the uncertainty, because they can't get investors, they can't expand. They don't know what's going to happen with their employees.

I visited a bakery in Derry, New Hampshire, that has about 85%-or had, because now he's out of business-had about 85% of his contracts with Canada. When the President imposed those tariffs on Canada and attacked Canada, our closest ally, he lost all of his Canadian contracts. And then I visited a manufacturing company in Dover, what they told me is that they had planned an expansion. They were looking for investors, but that's on hold right now because they nobody wants to invest, because they don't know what the President is going to do tomorrow on these tariffs. All of this economic pain is on the backs of Americans who are already suffering the high cost of living.

I think it's also important to note, as the President has been touting his deal with China after his visit to the Indo-Pacific last week, that in reality, that just clawed back part of what we lost when he started this trade war. China now faces lower tariffs than India and Canada. Get that-our biggest competitor in the world, China is getting lower tariffs than our closest neighbor and ally, Canada. That is not a regimen that makes sense in terms of the economic future of this country.

So I hope the court is going to listen to all of these friend of the court's briefs. I hope they're going to listen to the lower courts, and I hope they're going to quickly rule that these tariffs are unlawful, so that we can restore stability and focus on lowering costs, not raising them.

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