Short excerpt of a speech by Mike Pence (Youtube video) arguing that the Trump administration reintroduced tariffs to penalize companies that build abroad (mentions Mexico and China) and to reward American companies that invest in U.S. workers; frames this as restoring American jobs, dignity, and wages after factory closures over the prior 40 years.
Chapters
And you hear a lot of talk about the one big, beautiful bill. I want to talk about the one big, beautiful bill, but I want to talk first about the one big, beautiful agenda, because it didn't start with a piece of legislation that was passed by Congress a couple of weeks ago. It started when Donald J. Trump took office and said, you know, if you want to build something in Mexico or China or some other foreign country and dump it into the United States of America, you are going to pay a big fat penalty. You're going to pay a tariff before you dump these products into our country. And you know what that did? That put the entire world on notice that America was back. And if you wanted to build and invest in America, you were going to be rewarded. But if you wanted to build and invest somewhere else, you were not going to be rewarded. And that put the entire world on notice. And it had to happen. Because for 40 years, while those great American factories closed their doors, we know what went right along with them. It was great American jobs, It was great American dignity, and it was great American wages. And we know that because we're making smarter decisions in Washington, D.C. we are going to reward all of you for the great work that you're doing, and we're going to reward American companies for investing in American workers, not foreign workers, for a change.