CBS "Face the Nation" interviews during 2019: on Free Trade


Amy Klobuchar: China: we need credibility, would remove some tariffs

When you deal with the rest of the world you want to have credibility. You keep your promises and you keep your threats. What he does is he makes these blustering threats like kicking all of our companies out of China that people don't think really he's going to follow through on. What I would do is go back to the negotiating table with our allies [and] examine these tariffs. Some of them can come off; some of them could stay on and then make sure that we're using trade enforcement.
Source: CBS Face the Nation interview for 2019 Democratic primary Aug 25, 2019

Andrew Yang: Create a path forward on China that works for both sides

Q: How would you compete with China?

YANG: Tariffs and the trade war are the wrong way to go. We need to curb some of the abuses on the Chinese side. But the trade war is leading the global economy in the wrong direction. What we have to do is we have to create a path forward for the Chinese that allows them to save face and say look we need to curb your theft of intellectual property rights and here's what we can do in return. We have to create a path forward that'll work for both sides.

Source: CBS Face the Nation interview for 2019 Democratic primary Aug 18, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: China trade problems are real; use allies, not broad tariffs

I would acknowledge the problem here. The surveillance, the intellectual property violations are basically stealing our blueprints, what they have done when it comes to subsidizing industries and manipulating their currency. I would do is to work with our allies and to push them. You have to keep at it methodically. I wouldn't have used the approach they've used. Yes, targeted tariffs, but they have used basically a meat cleaver.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview Jun 30, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: Can't just talk about trade war with China, get it done

I'm in a very heavy ag state. Iowa, my neighbor is a heavy ag state, North Dakota. I've talked to farmers in those areas and what they tell me is they're not going to get that soybean market back in one year because that market has gone to farmers in other countries [due to Trump's tariffs]. And so that's why there's an urgency to this when we have an $891 billion trade deficit--which is the worst that we've seen--you can't just keep talking about it. You actually have to get it done.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview series Jun 30, 2019

Larry Kudlow: Farmers are patriots, assisting during trade war with China

Our farmers have been terrific, they're patriots, they support the President's dealings with China. China's problems, IP theft, forced transfers of technology, problems with getting into cloud services, problems with tariffs, problems with non-tariff barriers, all these things are going to have to be addressed. With respect to the farmers, we are providing short-term assistance to keep them going and try to fill the void until we can get better international markets.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview Jun 30, 2019

Larry Kudlow: Patriotic farmers support Trump's trade war with China

Q: The China market for soybean farmers won't recover until 2026 or 2027. So how much damage can America stomach?

KUDLOW: With respect to the farmers, we are doing the best we can. We are providing short-term assistance to keep them going and try to fill the void until we can get better international markets. The farmers themselves, the farm groups, they've been great patriots and we celebrate their support to make America's overall economy very, very strong.

Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview series Jun 30, 2019

Steve Bullock: Tariffs hurt farmers; let's work to open up markets

We have to do everything we can to make our farms and ranches viable. I was talking to someone in Iowa two weeks ago, lost $147,000 last year. Not only do they have the financial hit but we're going to lose markets. The way the Trump administration's approached this, the blunt instrument of tariffs, isn't working. We've always made sure that we have open access to markets not by going alone but by going with other partners across the world and doing everything we can to open up markets.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview Jun 9, 2019

Steve Bullock: Trump has turned "America First" into "America Alone"

We're going to lose markets. The way that the Trump administration's approached this is just sort of the blunt instrument of tariffs isn't working. I think he's kind of turned "America first" into "America alone." We've always made sure that we have open access to markets not by going alone but by going with other partners across the world and doing everything we can to open up markets.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview series Jun 9, 2019

Michael Bennet: Chinese trade practices unfair, but tariffs not the answer

What I would do differently is mobilize the world against China's mercantilist trading policies, which the President is right to point out have been unfair. But putting tariffs on our allies, putting tariffs on even the Chinese that are actually taxes on American producers, American farmers, taxes on the American consumer and taxes on the American worker, I think are completely the wrong way of doing this.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews of presidential hopefuls May 12, 2019

  • The above quotations are from CBS "Face the Nation" interviews during 2019
    (Margaret Brennan interviewing candidates for 2019-20 races).
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Free Trade.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by John Hickenlooper on Free Trade.
  • Click here for more quotes by Bernie Sanders on Free Trade.
2020 Presidential contenders on Free Trade:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN)
Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Feb 29, 2020