00:00:43.640He has announced his 25% tariff on import cars.
00:00:46.800And the president announcing it said he believes this is the beginning of Liberation Day in America.
00:00:54.740Here's the president in his own words.
00:00:56.680So this is the beginning of Liberation Day in America.
00:01:03.800We're going to take back just some of the money that has been taken from us by people sitting behind this desk or another desk.
00:01:12.080That's not quite as nice, but they have the choice of seven, as you know.
00:01:16.800And we're going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they've been taking over the years.
00:01:29.540They've taken so much out of our country, friend and foe.
00:01:33.140And frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.
00:01:54.100And basically, as you know, and as you've been seeing, not reporting as accurately as it should be reported because it's a massive story.
00:02:02.300Business is coming back to the United States so that they don't have to pay tariffs.
00:02:06.180And I think also because of November 5th, the election, they're very happy.
00:02:10.680Now, that's the president talking in the Oval Office about this, Senator.
00:02:14.360And look, tariffs can be very complicated.
00:02:17.860This is something that a lot of people are going to hear and say, good, we're leveling the playing field.
00:02:21.960But they can also be very complicated.
00:02:24.460And there's a lot that we're dealing with now in this country with tariffs.
00:02:27.520So I want you to break it down for people so they understand.
00:02:30.240Some of these tariffs have been a straight-up just strategy from the president to get leverage and to let countries know they can't keep treating us the way that they are.
00:02:40.580These are a little bit more complicated and complex.
00:02:43.740Well, listen, President Trump uses tariffs for multiple purposes.
00:02:47.340One purpose he uses them for is his leverage to incentivize foreign countries to do things that are in America's interest.
00:02:56.320The easiest example of this is the threatened tariffs against Mexico and Canada, where the president has threatened 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada, unless and until they actively and aggressively help us secure our borders.
00:03:10.960Now, I got to tell you, Ben, on that, I emphatically support President Trump.
00:03:15.400There is no greater mandate that came out of the November election than we must secure our borders.
00:03:23.260And I got to say, in the first Trump administration, the president used the threat of tariffs against Mexico, a 25% tariff he threatened, to get Mexico to make enormous concessions on border security.
00:03:36.680Mexico ended up caving, and the government of Mexico, AMLO, who was the president of Mexico, assigned 6,000 Mexican soldiers to their southern border.
00:03:47.240The Mexican southern border is much smaller than our southern border, because it obviously constricts into an isthmus.
00:03:54.240And they put 6,000 soldiers on their southern border, and they adopted the Remain in Mexico policy.
00:04:00.440So the Remain in Mexico policy was amazingly, tremendously successful.
00:04:05.860It produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years.
00:04:11.280So, when it comes to using the threat of tariffs or tariffs as an avenue of leverage, especially for something like securing the border, I am emphatically in support of it.
00:04:23.140By the way, we did an earlier podcast where when the nation of Colombia, earlier in the Trump administration, refused to accept illegal immigrants coming back,
00:04:33.200Trump immediately threatened tariffs against them, and Colombia cratered within hours, that they just surrendered and said, okay, we'll take them back.
00:04:41.660So, I'm all for tariffs as leverage to get positive foreign policy concessions from other countries.
00:04:49.400Well, let's talk about the 25% on the cars and how this kind of got started.
00:04:55.140From a political standpoint, explain to the American people why this is a strategy that could work, but also it is very complicated.
00:05:06.240So, Ben, there's a second component of President Trump's tariff approach, which is he genuinely loves tariffs.
00:05:13.780We've all heard him rhapsodize at length, where he said, tariff is the most beautiful word in the English language.
00:05:21.460And I got to say, of every view President Trump has ever had, this is the most consistent policy view of his entire life.
00:05:31.120If you go back to the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was president, Donald J. Trump was calling for, we need more tariffs on foreign goods.
00:06:57.560And by the way, for people that are new, maybe they don't know.
00:07:00.680But what is your definition of free trade so that they understand that?
00:07:04.580Because there's people that have bastardized free trade over the last 20 years to mean a lot of different things.
00:07:12.060So, look, as an economic matter, I believe America prospers and does well when we can export our crops, our livestock, our goods, our services into other nations.
00:07:24.540I think we are the greatest producing nation.
00:07:27.420We have the greatest economic power on the face of the planet.
00:07:29.840And when we can open up foreign markets to American exports, we do fantastic.
00:07:35.440American farmers and ranchers do great when foreign markets are opened up.
00:07:50.060I mean by reciprocity that we should adopt tariffs that mirror the tariffs other countries apply to us.
00:07:57.600Why is it that I'm advocating for reciprocity?
00:08:00.940Because since I believe in free trade, I think it is better economically for America to embrace free trade.
00:08:08.700Reciprocity puts a downward ratchet on our tariffs.
00:08:12.420Because if the Trump administration imposes tariffs against foreign nations, there is an easy avenue for those foreign nations to lower the tariffs.
00:08:23.160And the way they can do so is lower their own tariffs against American goods.
00:08:29.480So I can tell you in the last two weeks, the CEO of a major European car company was meeting with me.
00:09:11.540I will say, Ben, it is clear the president likes tariffs.
00:09:16.240He describes when you sit down, I spent a lot of time with the president.
00:09:19.280When you sit down with him in person, he will go on sometime for hours at length about how tariffs will generate hundreds of billions of dollars, how they're terrific for the American economy.
00:09:30.400I don't want to see a situation where it is a major feature of the long-term economic picture of America that we have big tariffs in place.
00:09:55.920I would rather see a scenario where we are not imposing big tariffs, but at the same time, foreign countries are lowering their tariffs so we can export more.
00:10:06.780So I am emphatically on board with Donald Trump using tariffs as leverage.
00:10:12.120I have concerns, and I think it would be harmful to Texas and the country if tariffs become a persistent feature of our economic policy nationally.
00:10:21.500So this is one of those where it's also if you're a business person and you're a manufacturer, you want there to be some stability in the market.
00:10:32.840What does the future look like for me?
00:10:34.760And so if you're planning, I think if I'm reading this correctly, you're saying this is probably going to be a part of his policy for quite some time.
00:10:44.480This isn't going to be a blip on the screen the way that you described it.
00:10:48.240And that may be why so many are so concerned, right?
00:10:51.080So the single most frequent question I get from business leaders in Texas and from business leaders nationally, and I meet with business leaders literally every single day.
00:11:00.340That's a big part of the job of being in the Senate is you meet with leaders from your state and across the country.
00:11:05.540The most frequent question I get is what's going to happen on tariffs, what's going to happen on trade?
00:22:39.760There are seven to eight billion people on planet Earth.
00:22:42.000There are some people that are enemies of America.
00:22:43.640But why do we have to let enemies of America in?
00:22:47.180If you say, I hate America, it's like the old Saturday Night Live skit of the flight attendant as people are leaving the plane going, buh-bye, buh-bye.
00:23:04.140But we're not letting you in here because we don't need people who hate America and are trying to undermine our nation in this country.
00:23:10.560Which brings me to story number three.
00:23:13.280And this is one where we have, I think, led on exposing the amount of foreign money that's been pouring into universities.
00:23:21.780We also exposed it with the Biden crime family and the amount of foreign dollars coming in to the Biden Institute, for example, and other universities.
00:23:28.640And we've witnessed the amount of money coming in to a point where you say, this doesn't make sense economically.
00:23:38.040And I think now you're looking at a bigger issue, which is, what are they actually getting in return for the staggering amounts of foreign money that's pouring into these universities?
00:23:47.800Is this covert ops by foreign nations?
00:23:51.420Is this trying to control the next generation of American minds?
00:23:57.640But when you look at this new report from a nonprofit and a non-person government watchdog group, they're sounding the alarm saying this amount of money coming in is not just from good do-gooders.
00:24:08.460This money is coming in, is coming in for something big.
00:24:17.880So there's a story in Fox News entitled, quote, new report sounds alarm on staggering amount of foreign money pouring into U.S. universities.
00:24:27.380The report says that $795 million has gone from foreign adversaries to American universities.
00:24:37.180I'm going to quote a little bit of it.
00:24:38.460Quote, a new report from a nonprofit and nonpartisan government watchdog is shedding light on the tens of billions of dollars, tens of billions that have poured into U.S. universities in recent years, including $20 billion to some of the most prestigious universities in the country.
00:24:57.200The report produced by Americans for Public Trust and released this week found that $60 billion, again, $60 billion in foreign gifts and contracts were funneled into American colleges and universities, including $20 billion alone to elite schools like Harvard, Yale and others.
00:25:18.060Within that total, $795 million came from nations that are longstanding adversaries to the United States, including China, Russia, Venezuela and Yemen.
00:25:34.080I can tell you I've introduced legislation to require at a minimum that universities report every dollar of foreign money they receive so that we have scrutiny.
00:25:41.700And I'll tell you, Ben, one of the very first pieces of legislation I ever passed when I was a brand new baby senator 13 years ago was dealing with this issue of foreign money flooding into universities.
00:25:53.340And China had been funding these things called Confucius Institutes.
00:25:57.980Confucius Institutes were institutes on American college campuses that taught Mandarin, that taught the Chinese language.
00:26:06.400And they were used, number one, as hubs of espionage, where China would send spies to engage in espionage in the United States, and number two, as tools of propaganda, where they would push propaganda that was favorable to the Chinese communist government.
00:26:23.680And when I was a brand new baby senator, I introduced legislation that banned any money from the Federal Department of Defense going to a university that had a Confucius Institute.
00:26:36.200And at the time I introduced it, we had a Democrat Senate.
00:26:39.080When I got elected, Harry Reid was the majority leader.
00:27:03.260I got to say, in 2025, it's much, much worse.
00:27:06.900So what is the government's response now?
00:27:10.480What should the government response be moving forward?
00:27:13.380And is it time to actually look at these universities and ask questions or have regulations about money coming in from foreign countries, especially those that are adversaries of the United States of America?
00:27:30.680But the Wild Wild West that we're looking at right now from this report and $60 billion in foreign gifts and contracts were funneled into American colleges and universities.
00:27:41.420Like, they're getting something in return.
00:27:44.620$20 billion alone to Harvard, Yale, and other elite schools.
00:27:50.560And if they're buying the minds of American students or influence or even what worries me the most is stealing intellectual property or spying on America and future leaders, this scares the hell out of me.
00:28:05.020So what should the government's response be?
00:28:10.720So they're doing this to buy influence.
00:28:13.480They're doing this to push propaganda.
00:28:15.640They're doing this to engage in espionage.
00:28:18.380They're doing this to steal intellectual property.
00:28:21.260And so many of our universities, especially our elite universities, have eagerly jumped in bed with them.
00:28:27.880Look, you and I discussed early on in the wake of October 7th when the anti-Semitic protests were breaking out.
00:28:34.380If you look at the universities with the highest percentage of foreign students, it almost perfectly maps to the universities with the most, the most virulent, the most nasty anti-Semitic protests.
00:28:48.000Universities like Columbia and NYU are at the very top of the list.
00:28:52.180And when you let in a bunch of foreign students, now look, universities like foreign students because they pay full tuition.
00:29:00.500But why are American universities in the business of educating foreigners, especially foreigners who hate America and are undermining America?
00:29:33.620If you get money from a country that is an enemy of America, in my view, the federal government ought to put penalties in place where you end up being taxed more than you get.
00:29:43.540We don't need the enemies of America funding our universities and actively undermining our education.
00:29:49.780We need leaders who are willing to stand up for America first.
00:29:53.260And I think that's incredibly important.
00:29:55.740If you look at the money that came in, a perfect example of this is within that total, I gave you the 20 billion alone going to those elite schools.
00:30:03.080795 million came from nations that are longstanding adversaries of the U.S., including China, Russia, Venezuela, and Yemen.
00:30:13.140Is it also time to look at certain countries and say you can't have donations coming in from there?
00:30:18.160Yes, and we ought to penalize the hell out of it.
00:30:20.280If Iran is funding your university, you're doing something fundamentally wrong.