Live: Senate committee holds hearing on trade negotiations
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., opened with an announcement that he was introducing bipartisan legislation to undo the latest round of tariffs. He slammed the use of tariffs and the impact on rising prices on Americans.
'The U.S. economy has gone from the envy of the world to a laughingstock in less time than it took to finish March Madness,' he said.
Will Trump tariffs bring jobs back to the US? Economists are skeptical
Trade negotiator Jamieson Greer will appear before the full committee for questioning. In his opening statement, Greer repeated the administration's critiques of trade deficits with other countries.
'It is a moment of drastic, overdue change, but I am confident the American people will rise to the occasion as they have done before,' Greer said.
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, welcomed questions on trade policy but defended tariffs in his opening statements and blamed the Biden administration for failing to address trade deficits.
'We can restore faith in free markets by making it easier to do business in America than ever,' he said.
Trump announced his promised tariffs last week, shocking the business and financial world — as well as Republican allies — with steeper duties than expected.
The administration placed a 10% tariff on all countries and unveiled a list of around 60 countries with individualized tariffs that included both adversaries and traditional U.S. allies.
The stock market tumbled following the announcement, with brief periods of optimism as countries indicated a willingness to negotiate and a false rumor that the tariffs would be suspended for 90 days.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would move the power of tariffs from the president to Congress, making it impossible for Trump to implement them unilaterally.
Mega Millions raises ticket prices, touting better winning odds
While economists and business leaders have warned the steep tariffs are likely to cause a recession and raise prices significantly for American consumers, Trump has remained committed to the plan.
He has welcomed countries that have vowed to reduce their own tariffs on the United States but said that the new tariffs are here to stay. Trump promised more tariffs on China, a move that would bring the tariff on Chinese imports to more than 100%.
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The fight continues to be costly for Harvard. A federal judge has not yet decided whether to order the government to turn the money spigot back on, causing budgetary pressure that prompted Garber to take a voluntary 25% pay cut. The administration's intense pressure on higher education programs and students has not been met with complete silence. An open letter signed by more than 600 college presidents in April called Trump's actions 'unprecedented government overreach.' 'We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,' said the letter. 'However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.' But Roth, one of the presidents who signed the letter, doesn't believe putting out one statement is enough. 'I was glad that they did, but I don't see many people sounding the alarm that this is an assault on the integrity of one of the most successful systems in America, the higher education system,' Roth said. Although not as prominent as Harvard or Columbia, Mount Holyoke is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research institution with a billion-dollar endowment, and Holley says its focus on women's issues has been a double whammy for its funding. 'If you are a researcher in this country, doing work on women's health, or doing work on women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), doing work on women in leadership, any research that has to do with women is being caught up in those government searches and is being canceled,' she said. 'When one of our research grants was cut, the wording from the federal government was that this kind of work related to gender is not beneficial and not scientific.' But the cuts have not only come from the Trump administration, according to Holley. She said some private funding sources are also stepping back and cutting grants because they are afraid to associate themselves with a school that might run afoul of the president. 'I would say that the estimate is about $2 million (in lost research funding), and that's both cancelations from the federal government directly and cancelations from private funders who fear what the federal government might do,' Holley said. At Wesleyan University – an institution in Middletown, Connecticut, with about 3,000 students – responding to the administration's policies and executive orders has meant reconfiguring some DEI programs. A summer camp program aimed at middle school girls in Middletown who were interested in STEM studies is now open to boys, as well. 'The fact is that girls weren't signing up for STEM as much as boys, so that's why we had that program,' said Roth. 'But it seemed to some boys – big boys, I guess – to be reverse discrimination.' With many other schools eliminating DEI programs or making them all but invisible, Holley believes that the quick moves to roll back those commitments, even without an immediate and direct legal threat, says as much about the schools as it does about the government. 'I think it is a representation of the fact that many organizations maybe did not believe in these principles as strongly as they said that they did, and the government has provided them with an out,' she said. After encountering limited pushback from its Ivy League targets, the Trump administration is moving on to public institutions, starting with freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA is now actively negotiating with the Trump administration over a possible settlement. A government draft proposal would have the university pay $1 billion dollars, CNN has learned. 'There is a possibility that this administration, once they are done kind of dealing with Harvard and some of the larger institutions that they may begin to turn to the small liberal arts colleges,' said Holley. Despite the millions of dollars at stake in a fight with an administration flush with recent victories, Holley insists her criticism won't be muted. 'My mom was raised in the Jim Crow South, you know, both of my parents survived the Jim Crow era in this country, and I'm a student of the civil rights movement,' Holley said. 'In these moments, I would never think of not speaking up.'
