Testimony from Edward Gresser
Joint Economic Committee
December 18, 2024
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for this opportunity to testify on potential increases in U.S. tariff rates. My testimony this afternoon will address four main points: the nature of tariffs and the way they are paid; the people and economic “sectors” who bear their cost; the risks tariff increases pose for American exporting industries; and the unsettling implications of an unlimited presidential power to impose tariffs without Congressional approval. By way of introduction, I am Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) here in Washington, D.C., a 501(c)(3) non-profit research institution established in 1989 and publishing on a wide range of public policy topics. Before joining PPI in 2021, I served at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative from 2015 to 2021, as Assistant USTR for Policy and Economics, responsible for overseeing agency economic research and use of trade data, chairing the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee, and administering the Generalized System of Preferences.
Fundamentally, a higher across-the-board tariff rate will leave Americans worse off. It will diminish family living standards by raising store prices. It will make U.S. taxation more regressive for families and less equitable for businesses. It will damage U.S. industries through higher production costs, lost overseas customers, and potential retaliation. And finally, if implemented by presidential decree rather than legislation, it will erode a core Constitutional separation-of-powers principle.
