US Senator Bill Haggerty said he expects to hear a lot of concern from residents about the economy.
Haggerty stopped in Cookeville Monday afternoon as part of a visit to the Volunteer State. Haggerty said one way he plans to help the economy is to try and place a permanent extension on the 2017 tax cuts and Jobs Act.
“That had a huge impact on our economy before in terms of encouraging more capital investment,” Haggerty said. ” The more capital investment you have, the more jobs that you get. The more jobs, obviously, the more economic activity. So, very positive on that.”
Haggerty said the Trump Administration is trying to address imbalances with tariffs.
“The United States has the lowest tariff barriers of any major economy,” Haggerty said. “There are historic reasons for that. After WWII we created favorable terms of trade for countries in Europe, for Japan, countries whose economies had been devastated because we wanted them to work with us and not turn to communism, but we should have put a time limit on it.”
Haggerty said he wants to make fair trade easier for American companies to work in other countries.
“For example, if you’re going to China, they will force you to take on a Chinese partner. You will have to apply their standards. You can’t sell your products there because the standards have been slightly different,” Haggerty said.
Haggerty said he is hopeful these standards can be adjusted creating more fair terms of trade across the world.
