Rep. Jake Auchincloss Talks Economic "D-Day" and Trump Tariffs

**Joe Mathieu** (0:00)
And now joining us for more is Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. He serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is a Combat Marine Corps veteran. Congressman, welcome back to Bloomberg TV and radio. I don't know if you would characterize today's D-Day announcement as being a soft or hard launch, but does the administration have the right idea here in moving to crack down on those who are continuing to provide economic lifeline to Iran?

**Jake Auchincloss** (0:27)
Kailey, nice to be with you. This administration has not had a single right idea the last six months waging this failed war. What we saw this week was the president pointed his finger at a country. He promised and then delivered crippling tariffs and hard economic punches. And that country turned out to be Canada.
That's the administration we're dealing with. As we have an Arctic increasingly under contest, as we have North American missile defense concerns, as we need more energy for our economy, this president is picking a fight with Canada while increasingly losing ground against our actual geopolitical foes, China, Iran and Russia.

**Kailey Leinz** (1:07)
Well, Congressman, if I can stick with the D-Day reference here, and it's great to have you back with us on Bloomberg.
Treasury Secretary, writing about Iran in the FT, the op-ed I'm sure that you saw in which he promised economic D-Day, he said, at dawn begins economic D-Day, the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary. We all remember if we go back to our history class, that General Eisenhower wrote a letter. In fact, he wrote two letters on D-Day. One to the troops, that was the order of the day, very famously, talking about your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. This is the stuff of history in the Smithsonian. The other letter that he wrote was in case of failure. It was found late in the game here, and he wrote at the end of that note, Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives a claim earned in the blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends. Indeed, he said, if any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone. Do you think this administration wrote a second letter?

**Jake Auchincloss** (2:18)
Joe, I think even comparing Donald Trump to General Eisenhower is an affront to the legacy of Dwight Eisenhower. You and I have talked about this, Joe. You got to ignore what Donald Trump says. He's all talk, all bluster, all sizzle, no stake. Watch what he does.
What has this administration done regarding Iran? What they have done was come in with a half-baked plan. First, promising regime change and then rapidly backpedaling to now, they're just simply trying to get the Strait of Hormuz reopen. They're trying to get to the status quo antebellum.
That is what we have to watch at this administration. Ignore the words. They're all just trying to play the Twitter. Ignore the words, focus on the actions. The actions speak to a war that has been lost, a war that this administration knows has been lost, and they are trying to find an exit as rapidly and as elegantly as they can, and they're going to fail.

**Joe Mathieu** (3:17)
Well, I'd like to return to something you said a moment ago, Congressman, about the need to push back not only against Iran, but also Russia and China. Should the administration move on secondary sanctions against Chinese financial entities or consider inflicting actual punishment on China for continuing to provide financial support to Iran? Is that not a good thing? Or does it risk economic blowback to Americans at home?

**Jake Auchincloss** (3:46)
The question, Kailey, isn't about what good strategy would look like. The question is about, is this administration competent to execute against that strategy? And the answer is no. The job in Congress right now is to prevent a failed war from becoming a forever war. The job is not to empower this administration to wreak more havoc. Now, if you want to wind the clock back 18 months, imagine a competent president. You can see a situation where he doesn't pick a trade war with China that he loses. He doesn't pick a kinetic war with Iran that he loses. And instead, he goes to China and he says, we need two things from you. Two things. One, stop exporting fentanyl to the United States. They're responsible for about 98% of all fentanyl precursors. And number two, stop importing Iranian oil. You do those two things, we can have a constructive conversation about trade. You don't do those two things. We're going to work with our allies to levy sanctions against you. That is a universe in which the United States could have accomplished meaningful action against the Ayatollah, and it could also have set the table for constructive dialogue with China on the terms of trade. That window has closed. This president has no credibility globally, and Congress's job is to prevent this failed administration from doing more damage to the American economy and American global leadership.