Jared Polis on Free Trade

Tariffs are a regressive tax that hurt our economy

POLIS: There's certainly no upside. I do still hear some Pollyannish conservative economists that think that what Trump is doing is negotiating to get better tariffs rates, get them down to zero. That's the opposite of what we're seeing. With Europe, we have historically had a tariff rate of 2% to 3%. This new deal is 15%, five times higher than it's ever been, Americans paying 15% more for many products on the shelf, and discouraging manufacturing from even setting up in the United States. I'm hearing from manufacturing companies that want to establish and invest overseas to avoid our tariffs on the parts and materials they need to make their products. So there's no upside. There is uncertainty. Obviously, we can all hope that President Trump is actually playing some master game to get to zero tariffs. But he seems to like tariffs for the sake of tariffs. They're a tax. They're a regressive tax. They hurt our economy.

Will strongly criticize misguided efforts to impose tariffs

$25B more loans from Export-Import Bank.

This bill raises the cap on outstanding loans, guarantees, and insurance of the Export-Import Bank of the United States for FY2015-FY2022 and afterwards. The Bank shall:

• Provide technical assistance to small businesses on how to apply for financial assistance from the Bank;
• Establish programs under which private financial institutions may share risk in the loans, guarantees, and other Bank products in exchange for receiving fees received from program participants.
• The Bank may enter into up to $25 billion worth of contracts of reinsurance, co-finance, or other risk-sharing arrangements on its portfolio or individual transactions with insurance companies, financial institutions, or export credit agencies.

Opponents reasons for voting NAY: (Washington Examiner, 12/2/12): The Export-Import Bank is a taxpayer-backed agency that finances U.S. exports, primarily though loan guarantees. You`d think the bank would spread the money around to nurture up-and-coming businesses. You`d be wrong, very wrong. In fact, 83% of its taxpayer-backed loan guarantees in 2012 went to just one exporter: Boeing. Welcome to the `New Economic Patriotism,` where the big get bigger and taxpayers bear the risk. Ex-Im is at the heart of Obama`s National Export Initiative and is a pillar of the economic patriotism that Obama pledged in a second term. When government hands out more money, the guys with the best lobbyists and the closest ties to power will disproportionately get their hands on that money. Obama has spent four years pushing more subsidies, more bailouts and more regulations. `New Economic Patriotism` basically amounts to a national industrial policy -- Washington championing certain major domestic companies and industries, as if the global economy were an Olympic competition.

Rated 88% by the USAE, indicating support for trade engagement.

Ratings by USA*Engage indicate support for trade engagement or trade sanctions. The organization`s self-description: `USA*Engage is concerned about the proliferation of unilateral foreign policy sanctions at the federal, state and local level. Despite the fact that broad trade-based unilateral sanctions rarely achieve our foreign policy goals, they continue to have political appeal. Unilateral sanctions give the impression that the United States is `doing something,` while American workers, farmers and businesses absorb the costs.`

USA*Engage at Work
• Developing the Case: USA*Engage explains the benefits of economic engagement, and the high cost of sanctions for American exports, investment and jobs.
• Education: We recruit respected foreign policy and economic experts to speak out against sanctions, actively engage the media and provide outreach to key target states and Congressional districts.
• Contacting Government Officials: USA*Engage directly contacts Congressional, Administration, state and local officials.

VoteMatch scoring for the USA*Engage ratings is as follows :

• 0%-49%: supports trade sanctions;
• 50%-74%: mixed record on trade engagement;
• 75%-100%: supports trade engagement.