Senator Rand Paul, of Kentucky, has a very different take on President Trump’s tariffs. Sean and Senator Paul debate the merits of tariffs.
All right, news round up in information Overload hour. Here's our toll free number. It's eight hundred and nine four one, Sean, if you want to be a part of the program. Always a pleasure to have back on the program, Senator Ram Paul. He has a different view than the President on the issue of tariffs. Senator, great to have you back. How are you, sir?
Very good, Sean, Thanks for having me.
Now, I know your constitutional argument, and you don't like the emergency powers that the President is using and new fields and abuse generally. Though, you know you've been pretty supportive of the president. I mean, I think it's been a pretty productive one hundred days by any objective measure. Would you agree with that part?
Yeah, I give him an a plus for the one hundred days. I don't like the tariffs and think it'll be bad for the country, but if he's able to negotiate lower tariffs, I'll be for a complimentary of that. But on the cabinet, I was supported, and I've helped get his cabinet members through my committee chair a committee been ecstatic about Bobby Kennedy, j BENACHARIOT NIH, Marty MCCAREYOT FDA cash Battel, Tulsa Gabbard. Many of these are people I would have picked, frankly, so I've been ecstatic about that. I think he's doing a lot of good things for the border, my goodness, without a dollar and without any legislation, low and behold, just with his sheer presence, his sheer force, the presidence, he's you know, ended the onslaught at the border. I mean, it still has to be watched carefully, but he's probably reduced the flow of illegal Alians by like ninety of the border just by saying he cares about it and sending some extra troops down there.
Let me ask this question before we get to your constitutional argument, which I'm always interested in hearing. Do you agree with the premise of the President that friend and fall alike, that they have ripped off America with unfair high towers against us. That would include friendly nations like Canada and the European Union. For example, the European Union charges is a ten percent tariff on an American car being sold in their countries. Then a country like Germany they have a twenty percent VAT tax, which is a value added tax, a national sales tax, and you know, by the time an American car you know, makes it on a lot in Germany, it's sticker price is thirty percent higher, which has rendered a pretty much cost you know, prohibitive for many people in Germany. And while they sell about fifty million cars a year annually here, we only sell about eight million to nine million over there. And I think that is that those are unfair trade practices. Do you agree with the President's premise, which is we're getting ripped off, We're being abused by even countries that depend on us for their national security and defense. And is there something in principle that is really wrong about that?
Definitely on NATO, Yeah, I think we've been ripped off for years and years and they should be made to pay their fair share. With trade. I think there is a fundamental fallacy. So for example, if you say, what does the US buy from China? What is China about from the US. They actually don't trade with each other. Only individuals trade with other individuals. So if people say, well, I hate the trade with China and we should buy from China, that's millions of Americans who go to Walmart are making a decision. So let's say a million Americans go and buy a TV at Walmart and it costs three hundred dollars less, and it comes from China, so you get a three hundred dollars cheaper TV. Every one of those million consumers made a trade, but they all feel like they got a good deal. They wouldn't have given up their money to get the thing. So all trade is advantageous to the people making the trade, or you won't give up your money. If it's voluntary, you buy something and you're always happy with the trade. But if you take all million people who bought a TV and say three hundred dollars and add it together, and you say, well, gosh, all those TVs came from China and none came of America, they're ripping. So it's an artificial accounting or a way of looking at it. Because every individual in the million person trade there was happy. How can we bundle them together and say we got ripped off? So you could say it's an unfair country to country, say well, god, they have hire tariffs, but if they have hire tariffs on American goods, they are punishing their consumers. So we can then say, well, we'll punish our consumers the same as they do. By raising our arabs to meet no.
But they're also punishing American American manufacturers, American farmers, American ranchers because they're closing their markets, like for example, Canada. Canada, you know, only allows a certain small percentage of dairy to be brought into their country, and then they go up to a two hundred and fifty percent tariff, and they're basically, well, we have open markets for them and their manufacturers and their producers and their lumber of people. Why would they shut the door in the face of our dairy farmers or are other farmers or other American products, which they've been doing now for a long period of time. So in other words, they're hurting farmers and ranchers and manufacturers here. And sure, maybe the person that likes getting a cheaper TV, but the person that actually produces things that they would otherwise consume, they're they're not given free access the way where we have given them free access.
So when I first heard this about Canada, I was somewhat persuaded and somewhat pissed off that they would have a two hundred and seventy percent tair up on our dairy.
But then looks after a per certain percentage has been sold. Yes, me and I.
Looked into it, but you know, it doesn't come into play at all. There is no goods, No dairy goes to the Canada as the two hundred and seventy percent chaire because we never reached the quota. And the interesting thing is is when Trump renegotiated the US Mexico Canada agreement, he raised the quota, so he was successful in raising the quota, and we never get anywhere close to the quota. So in some ways it's a red herring. There is a two hundred and seventy percent tariff above a certain amount. We never get there. We're always well below the number, so there really is a terriff of zero.
Jerry goes no that the tariff is not zero, because before you hit that number, the tariff is anywhere between five and ten percent.
Very small and actually quite a bit of it.
I don't think it's small. I mean because we're not putting tariffs on the products that bring it into this country, so there is an unfair tariff balance there.
I guess the thing I would say is is that tariffs punish your own consumers. So Canada or any other country that wants to punish their consumers can but we shouldn't.
Right, let's accept that as true. Then don't tariffs high tariffs also punish I mean maybe we maybe consumers benefit. I'll concede the point to you. What's the unfair if the president says you can have we can have free and fair trade across the board so we have a level playing field. Or if you're going to tiff us, we'll put reciprocal tariffs on you. Tell me why that's unfair.
We're able to negotiate tariff lower. I'd be off with that. And to the extent that Donald Trump will be able to in the first ninety days negotiate lower tariffs, I think that would be great. If we just simply reciprocate and add to it, There'll be a cost and somebody has to pay that cost, and that'll be American consumers. So I don't I'm just an old fashioned conservatives. I don't like taxes, tariffs or taxes. Why would I like taxes any better? On goods that I would like an income taxer?
But do you believe in I'm with you, I want low taxes too, But do you believe in free and fair trade. Also because I'm a free and fair trader.
Yeah. For I think trade itself is an extension of capitalism, and so capitalism creates great wealth, and so the more we trade, the more wealth we have. And that's what we found over seventy years, really is that people have moved from the lower class in middle class in our country to the upper class. If you look at prosperity, if you look at GDP per capita, it's going up astronomically. If you look at how many hours it takes to buy something like a TV, it takes ten percent of the hours that used to take rice food, It takes ten percent of the time clothing. We've had extraordinary wealth because we now have a free time from all that money we saved through international trade to buy other stuff or to have more leisure time. So really the story of trade over the last seventy years has been one of extraordinary prosperity for our country.
I do think, and you seem to, you know, not concede this point, that would be that we've been ripped off and treated unfairly, and especially by countries. It's not just NATO, it's all of Europe. Pretty much depends on the United States for the national security, and a lot of these countries have not paid their fair share to NATO. That's one aspect of it. But the idea that they're going to charge tariffs to American manufacturers and American companies and farmers and ranchers, I just think fundamentally is unfair. And I don't think they're being honest brokers and and good trading partners and good allies when they do that to us, which, as you rightly do point out, is beneficial to everybody, but it's more beneficial to them right now. And the president's challenging that status quo. And I think it's going to result in better deals. I can't say for certain, and I hope it's going to result in better deals.
They're not wrong that there's the appearance and the reality of it being unfair at one country is high tariffs and one country is low tariffs. But someone has to pay if you want to have If you're going to force like somebody has a twenty percent tariff on you and you as a zero you said I want to do twenty percent, the American consumer will have to absorb that twenty percent in order to get a better sense of fairness, but there's an economic cost to it. And so what I'm going to say.
Is that is it wrong then to challenge the system and at least put the pressure on to to at least at least try to get the system more fair and more free.
I'm all for the negotiations I worry about out when you put one hundred and forty six percent tariff on things from Vietnam and the marketplace looks at that and people get scared out of the width and sell six point six trillion dollars worth of stock in two days. This isn't just me complaining. This is the marketplace, which is millions of self interested, self centered but also people who have a great deal of knowledge are all trading, and that simultaneous knowledge that the market that place tells is they were worried about all of that. So there is a way to try to negotiate trade deals and lower trade and to enhance trade, but yet to be careful. But I'd take two items. I'd take steel and choose, and i would say we tried to protect steel on and off for seventy years, but our steal was inefficient. Organized labor unions demanded extraordinary wages, and we just got out competed with cars. When you look at cars, the Japanese are just so much better. They're still better. They come to our country and manufacture here, and they still make it better and cheap for the American cars do and they do it here. I don't think there's any amount of tariff that's bringing the steel industry back, and I don't think there's any amount of tariff that brings shoes back. But we replaced some of the shoe jobs, like we make BMW and Green.
Well actually didn't. The President kind of got these companies Nissan, Honda, for example, Toyota. My understanding is BMW, Mercedes are going to build their cars with more American parts here as the means of bypassing the tariffs. And I like it because that results in high paying career jobs for Americans. So I think the market is adjusting to the President's challenge in that sense.
No, so we make three in Kentucky. We make the Corvette, which is American aid, we make the Toyota Camery, which.
Is American Corvette. Z six is awesome, and.
We all make the four truck. All of these manufacturers come to me and they say that the tariffs that have been placed on the twenty five percent terraff between Mexico and Canada. He adjusted to a low tariff atmosphere and they had a lot of parts going back and forth. They say, simply the compliance costs. Now banks can complain about compliance costs of regulations. The compliance costs are figuring out a tariff on every volt where it comes from. We have seamless supply chain going back and forth between Canada, the US and Mexico is extraordinary. But they're talking about five to ten thousand dollars a car, so just not good for America to pay more. At five to ten thousand dollars more. In the end, you could say, well it's fair, but Americans are going to have to pay five to ten thousand dollars more per car, and I think a lot of Americans will say, well, I'm going to put off buying a car, and then we may end up having a recession if everybody quits buying stuff because the tariff tax is so high.
My best bet, and I can't put a guarantee on it, is that all these countries that have expressed interest in making deals with President Trump, I believe that that is real. I think China will be the most difficult to make a deal with, but in the end, they need access to our markets and we probably need their rare earth minerals way more than we'd want to acknowledge.
That's more trade if we get that on for it. But like let's say, for example, antibiotics, I don't want four precious antibotics to only be made in China.
So what I would no, way, that's a security issue.
Yeah, well, you know what I would do rather than the teriff issue where we might have no antibiotics or the antibotic prices my triple I would offer zero percent corporate tax on somebody who'll make those antibotics in our country for ten years. I'd say no tax I wouldn't say lower taxes. I would say no taxes will remove obstacles, will expedite the approve of it. But if you want to make a maxacillin, which is dedrivative of penicillin in our country and it's only anything only made in China, you know, in fact, if that's legislation that we're considering introducing, would be legislation to zero out taxes on anything that's solely done in China, then we're not ruining the marketplace before fixing it. It takes a while, might take a year or two for a company to develop a steel company, might cost one hundred billion for a blast furnace. I just don't think that's happening. But I'm not against giving tax inventives to US steel companies.
Look, this is going to play out. I agree with you, though. I think the quicker these issues are resolved and hopefully better and freer and fairer trade deals would benefit not only consumers, butt manufacturers and farmers and ranchers that have been shut out of some of these markets. I think is the benefit for all Americans in the end. But it's complicated. The sooner it's resolved, I would agree with you, the better it's going to be for everybody.
If we could have within the ninety days a reciprocal lowering affaires between countries, and then now that you'll see a boom and an increase in the market like you haven't seen big time. Yeah, but we needed Right now, we're increasing government aid for farmers because the farmers are going to be excluded from China's market.
China will also have to give in over time. We're just out of time though, a Senator Rampaul, we always appreciate you, thanks so much for being with us Democrats, I mean the party of angry, petulant bingo cards, slogans, singing, and now the party led by the squad AOC Kasmine Crockett and Grandpa Bernie. You know they're just out of it and just had a complete meltdown during about Donald Trump's first hundred days. Let's play it. Let me tell you we have a thug and charge of the United States, and if we don't wake up, we may not have a United States.
I don't swear in Colicaryl, but we have to Trump trouble Donald Trump.
And and what Grant said is there are but two parties in America right now, patriots and traders.
When is it going to be enough?
My voice is inadequate, my.
Efforts today, are you inadequate to.
Stop what they're trying to do? You get Trump mustered hands mus.
Now, the President, I think very smartly went to Michigan last night and he decided to lay out his case for his first hundred days and all the success and frankly the foundation that he is building for a lot of future American growth, prosperity, the America's golden age, as he calls it.
We've set all time records for the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded.
Think of that ever recorded.
I'm proud to be the president for the workers and not the outsources, the president who stands up for Main Street on Wall Street. Our golden age has only just begun. We are one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God.
We will never give in.
We will never give up, we will never back down. We will never ever surrender. We will fight, fight, fight, and we will win, win, win.
And he capped off the day an interview with Terry Moran UH over facilitating of Bregoe Garcia's return to the US. Apparently one of this was this on ABC Nightly News last night? Is that where they aired this, Linda, it is.
Indeed, I know you were watching with bated breath.
No, I haven't watched one of those.
Oh no, you love liberal news media.
Okay, I don't even know who the anchor is anymore. Donald, I heard I heard that. Well, apparently wouldn't give the interview to little Georgie and uh and David Muror so Terry Moran, I'm like, any I don't think he knew who he was, that he was.
Out of here clips, you know.
And David Muir doesn't do an interview unless he can have his jacket nice and tight. So Donald Trump wasn't, you know, couldn't make it work. He's like, sorry, brother, whatever.
I cannot tell you who anchors NBC Nightly News since Lester Holt left. I have no idea.
I have.
I have no idea. After Nora O'Donnell was sacked from CBS, who's anchor in that show? You know? It could be Katie Kirk for all I know. I have no idea.
Could be Katy Perry for all you know, you know, and make it really weird.
Could be Katy Perry. He's busy flying rocket ships and kissing Mother Earth or whatever she is. Eleven minutes later, upon return the star struck.
In quote unquote space with a sunflower.
Give me a break whatever, I mean, who cares? I don't know what. But it was a whole story about people hating on Katy Perry. I don't dis like her, I do I did see her on American Idol and she seemed like a nice person.
She took that land from the nuns kind of over her.
Oh that's right, I remember that contrary.
Yeah, you can't forget that stuff. You can't mess with nuns. Man.
Come on, I ever tell you before I get to Terry Moran and Trump, I ever tell you the story. I bought a property and I get a letter. Well, actually the letter came to a friend of mine. They didn't have contact with me, and in the letter, it turns out and we were in full contract. You know, they had no legal right to get the house back, and they had sellers remorse, really and just you know, invoking probably the name of Jesus more than I could count on one page, you know, hopefully just desperately wanted their house back. And I'm like, I'm like, sure, no problem.
They wanted the houseback that you bought from.
Them, correct copy. I was in contract to clothes on very soon and they went. They and the person had sellows remorse. They regretted selling it.
But it was it like their family home. Were they in it for like thirty years or I.
Don't know, I didn't didn't.
How do you know, would you ask questions when you're at closing?
I just wanted this long letter begging me not to buy their house. And you know, I know you're a Christian, I know you believe in Jesus, and I do this.
When you were already Sean Hannity. Or is this like pre Sean Handity, like did they know who you were?
No?
No, no, this is what what do you mean pre show? There was no pre show?
There's like Sean Hannity, I'm full and off a roof, I'm working on boats, and then they're Shinelady.
Kennedy didn't have money to buy a house. Unfortunately, at that time in my life, I was barely paying my rent, and so I of course said, of course you're gonna have your house back. If you don't feel good about it, I'm not gonna. I can't well, I mean, what kind of person would you be. You got to have a heart, You gotta have a soul. I would have liked the house, but I'm not going to make anything more important than being a good person.
That's really really nice. Maybe you should call Katie Perry and.
Tell her to give the nuns their property back.
Here you go, like, hey, miss Firework, how do you feel about that?
Oh?
I just never had had an experience like that, and I'm reading this letter every fifth order is Jesus. It was just in that sense. It was funny because I'm like, Okay, you don't have to overseell me here. You regret selling the house, you wish you didn't do it? Why would I? Why would I want to bring pain into this person's life?
Now when you gave it back, did you like communicate through your agent or did you actually like talk to the person.
And I always use lawyers. I might have talked to the woman briefly and just said, Okay, you'll cover the costs of what I spent and you're gonna have your house back.
But I mean, like, were they relieve? Were they happy? Like what happened? I want the details?
Of course the woman was happy. I said, it gave her what she wanted.
Did she tell you why?
Conversation I remember having was Okay, I understand, not a big deal. Sure, I'll you know, I'll rip up the contract. You just agree to pay for the cost that I incurred in the process of buying the house, which is not you know, I was next to nothing. I paid for an inspection and I paid for you know, maybe a lawyer.
Well, I think that's very nice of you, and I hope.
That it was her family you would do the same thing, or.
I would absolutely When I buy my vacation home and somebody wants my other home and I put this home shore, I hope that someday that is a problem I have.
Now, if at the home had already been transferred to my name, I probably say you should have thought of that before you sold it. At that point, you know, you just go through too much of a rigmarole, just too then it becomes too hard. I mean, you know, come back a year.
Later at the property from you and they could pay.
The mortgage, could do that too.
There's all listen, there's always a at the end of the day. There is always a way. It's just how bad you want it.
That's all all right.
I forget about Terry Moran. Let's get to our phones. I don't care about him. Uh let's say Hida Blanca Maryland, Sean Hannity Show.
Hi, afternoon. Well, I just wanted to share with you that I'm a proud American naturalized citizen from Alfavador, and uh I am from Maryland. I am ma'am.
So you're a true Marylander.
Well, yes, originally from Melfavador, but yes I am a Marylander and uh in where the dents have turned Baltimore, Maryland into bullet war murder land. Uh, that is what they have done here. The policies have cost lives which that cannot be replaced. The economic just the there is no safety that the economic turmoil that we're under is unbearable. And I wanted to share as a Salvadorian and now American that oftentimes I've seen been here twenty excuse me, forty two years next month, and I have seen immigrants fight harder than those who are born here. That's very disappointing. It's very disappointing.
Oh, I totally agree with you. I have seen immigrants that appreciate freedom, especially if they come from countries where they didn't have freedom and opportunity, you know, really appreciate this country more than Americans. We kind of take things as natural human nature to take things for granted. And I remember one night I was working in an office that this is when I was a painting contractor, and it was overnight. I had to paint, and you know, incomes this guy and he was a Russian immigrant. And the guy you know, and ended up being so successful. And he was there to clean the offices in the middle of the night with his young son. I couldn't sat talk to the guy for like an hour and a half. Learned a lot from him.
Yes, yes, because one thing. And I can't say for all, because I can't generalize all individuals. But one thing I can say is that the circumstances that brought me here. I was abused as a child in every way that abuse could occur to someone, and I was adopted, and I was adopted at age ten. So assimilating to a new country, a new culture, a new family, a new home, a new way of life, a new language, it really helps me to understand the cost of what it means to retain and preserve. I think that oftentime, many many people that are that were born here, they they kind of release. We try to retain as conservatives, we retain and we preserve that they try to release, and then they pander, they tander to hold power, and that power is not really power because they are holding so many people hostage. The political party, especially here in Baltimore City, is it's as corrupt as the late. The day is long it's very corrupt between the money that go to one nonprofit to this nonprofit and this one has a boyfriend and that's why he got the grant. And then now you know they're not together. And now this and that, I mean this safe streets scam that we have here you know where where where you can't know who they are, but we know that they have a record, and they're just basically just walking around the streets being tour guides. This is what safe streets is. Nobody can call it out because then you're called every name. The school system gets one point seven billion dollars. Yet we have eighty one thousand people just in Baltimore without a high school degree, and so as.
An immigrant, are there at thirteen or fifteen or some astronomical number of Maryland high schools where kids not one kid could pass a proficiency test in either reading, English or math. Not one kid in high schools thirteen high schools thirteen, yes.
In the thirteen out of the thirty seven schools. That is correct. That is because the Democrats continue to lie that you can get ahead by doing nothing, being socially promoted, and then there's no accountability. The rec centers are ready to be opened onto eleven PM. And you know what that means. Just the kids are going to just be at a rec center while the parents are aware they should be at home, they should be trained. But the perpetual the preschool to the preschool to prison pipeline is real here. So I just wanted to let you know that as an immigrant, I listened to you. I'm been a Republican for over twenty years. I was one of those like.
The let me just say something only because I'm looking at the clock and I'm going to run out of time here. I support legal immigration. You know what, We are a better country because of people like you, And I don't care where you come from. I just asked people to do it legally, respect our laws, border sovereignty, and we need to do background checks to make sure you don't have radical associations, health checks post COVID, and make sure that you're not a financial burden on the American people. And here you are in this country, facing challenges, having a learning language, new family, all of that, and look at the great American you are, the great Marylander you are today And I don't care where people come from. We just have to have rules that allow them. Joe Biden allowed in terrorists, cartel members, gang members, murderers, rapists, violent criminals. We can't do that. But Blanca, you show how an immigration system should work, and it was designed to work, and you did it legally, and I'm glad your life turned out the way it didn't. We're glad you're here. You're part of our family. All right, that's going to wrap things up at today. We'll check in with Newkingridge tonight. Elena Hama joins us tonight, Victor Davis Hansen, Horace Cooper. We'll have a Hannity shootout. Haven't had that in a while. Jessica Tarlaw versus Mary Catherine Ham, Joe Kansha, and our other news of the day segment and much more. Nine Easter news you will never ever get from the state run legacy media mob. Tonight on Hannity. We'll see you then back here tomorrow. Thank you for making this show possible.