← Videos · Economy, Tariffs & Trade

Greer Testifies at His Senate Finance Confirmation Hearing, Feb. 6, 2025

February 6, 2025 · Forbes Breaking News · 2:49:44

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Jamieson Greer testified on February 6, 2025, before the Senate Committee on Finance at the hearing on his nomination to be United States Trade Representative, carried in full by Forbes Breaking News. Greer, who served as chief of staff to first-term USTR Robert Lighthizer, presented what Reuters summarized as a pragmatic trade policy focused on rebuilding U.S. manufacturing and shoring up supply chains, and the committee tested the tariff program he was nominated to run.

On the President’s proposed universal tariff, Greer told the committee it needs further study to gauge its impact on the trade deficit: “A universal tariff is something that should be studied and considered to see if it can reverse the direction of that deficit,” he said, noting the study was ordered in the President’s inauguration-day trade memorandum with a report due April 1, as Reuters reported from the hearing. The U.S. goods trade deficit had reached a record $1.2 trillion for 2024, a figure Greer and members returned to throughout. On the tariff actions then moving against Canada, Mexico, and China, Greer said their goal was agreements to curb fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration: “The action that the president is talking about is about fentanyl. We don’t want another single fentanyl death.” On China, he said the relationship needs to become balanced, requiring more than lowering Chinese tariffs — also reducing non-tariff barriers — and that the 2020 Phase One agreement needed re-examination so China and other countries are not “free-riding” on the USMCA for duty-free access, while holding Canada and Mexico to their USMCA market-access commitments, including dairy for Canada and energy for Mexico. Senator Chuck Grassley pressed the agricultural file — Brazil’s 18% tariff on American ethanol against near duty-free access for Brazilian ethanol here — and asked how much authority Greer would hold on trade relative to the Commerce Secretary; Greer said he wanted to expand foreign markets for “competitive” U.S. farmers, citing India and Turkey as markets that need to fully open to U.S. farm goods. Asked by Senator Roger Marshall what trade agreements the prior administration had accomplished, Greer answered, “Senator, I’m not aware of any,” according to Marshall’s office. The Senate confirmed Greer on February 26, 2025, by a 56–43 vote, as reported.

Why it matters

This hearing is the founding document of Greer’s USTR: the universal-tariff study commitment, the fentanyl framing of the first tariff actions, and the Phase One/USMCA review agenda were all stated here before a single deal was negotiated. The trade deals that followed — and the April 8, 2025 trade-agenda hearing where Greer defended them mid-market-turmoil — are measured against the program he laid out in this room.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: Greer’s February 6, 2025 confirmation commitments — the universal-tariff study under the inauguration-day trade memorandum, a balanced China relationship beyond tariff levels, USMCA enforcement on dairy and energy, and expanded market access for U.S. farmers — each as stated at the hearing, to be checked against USTR’s subsequent agreements and enforcement actions.

Sources: Senate Committee on Finance, hearing to consider the nomination of Jamieson Greer to be United States Trade Representative, February 6, 2025 (full hearing as carried by Forbes Breaking News, embedded above); Reuters, February 6, 2025, on Greer’s universal-tariff, fentanyl, and China testimony; Senator Chuck Grassley’s office and Senator Roger Marshall’s office, February 2025, on their exchanges; contemporary reporting of the February 26, 2025 confirmation vote. All figures and characterizations as stated by Mr. Greer and committee members at the hearing.