Ro Khanna Questions Witness on Trump's Tariffs and U.S. Manufacturing

Questioning on Tariffs

• 🎯 Rep. Ro Khanna questioned Chris Power, CEO of Hadrian, about the impact of President Trump's tariffs on U.S. manufacturing during a House Oversight Committee hearing.
• 💡 Khanna noted the absence of the word "tariffs" in Power's testimony, implying a belief that the tariff strategy isn't effectively building advanced manufacturing.

Witness's Perspective on Tariffs

• ❓ Power stated that his company is not significantly impacted by tariffs because their supply chain is entirely onshore, serving the defense market.
• 📈 He expressed a belief that tariffs may begin to work over the next 90-100 days as negotiations settle, particularly focusing on China.
• ✅ Power indicated support for tariff policies aimed at reshoring U.S. manufacturing, especially those preventing China from rerouting goods through other countries.

Republican Witnesses and Tariffs

• 🧐 Khanna observed that none of the three Republican witnesses mentioned tariffs in their testimony, despite the hearing focusing on industrial policy.
• 🗣️ He highlighted that while Republican experts recommended numerous other industrial policy solutions, tariffs were conspicuously absent from their suggestions.

Expertise and Opinions on Policy

• 🤷‍♂️ Witnesses stated they were not tariff experts but rather focused on enabling advanced manufacturing scale-up and building companies.
• ⚖️ When pressed, Power indicated that Trump's tariff policies were a "mix," with some aspects being correct and others wrong, but avoided direct criticism.
• ⚠️ Khanna expressed frustration that witnesses seemed hesitant to criticize Trump's tariff policies, even when their testimonies did not mention tariffs.