Democrat Introduces Bill for 10% Tariffs on All Imports
Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat representing a district with a majority of Donald Trump voters, has introduced a bill to impose a blanket 10% additional tariff on all imports, an echo of Trump's original proposal. The former president later said he might impose a 20% tariff on those imports.
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The Built USA Act (Balance Unequal International Labor and Trade for the United States of America Act) would start at 10% tariffs, then either decrease by 5% or increase by 5% in consecutive years, based on whether the U.S. imported more than it exported. Services would be included in that calculation, not just goods.
“Recent history is bipartisan recognition that the era of free-wheeling free-trade that cost Maine so much must come to an end, as a matter of both national security and economic interest,” Golden said in a news release announcing the bill's introduction. “We must act to reposition ourselves in the world economy, to a place of strength and self-sufficiency.”
He said that more than 40% of non-farm jobs in Maine 70 years ago were in manufacturing, and now, it's less than 10%.
The tariff would cover food and commodities, as well.