Jared Golden Reintroduces Bill to Implement Universal 10 Percent Tariff

Democratic Congressman from Maine’s 2nd District Jared Golden has reintroduced his proposed bill that would implement a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports, a move he believes will help incentivize American manufacturing, raise revenues and rebalance trade deficits.

Rep. Golden’s reintroduction of his “BUILT USA Act” comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump will take office for his second term. Trump, who won Maine CD-2 by nine points this November, called for universal tariffs as high as 10 or 20 percent on all goods imported to the U.S. on the campaign trail.

“After decades of failed free trade agreements, the hollowing out of American industry and stagnating wages, we owe it to ourselves to ask real questions about what we prioritize in our economy,” Golden said in a Thursday press release.

“The universal tariff — along with other policies to support domestic energy production, unions and manufacturing — is designed to reorient our economy from one focused on cheap goods and consumption to one centered on production and innovation,” Golden said.

Cited by Golden was a December report from the Congressional Budget Office that showed a universal 10 percent tariff would raise $2.2 trillion in revenue through 2034.

According to Golden, these funds could be used to help reduce the deficit, subsidize American manufacturing and to extend the tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term that are set to expire this year.

Under Golden’s BUILT USA Act, or the Balance Unequal International Labor and Trade for the United States of America Act, a 10 percent tariff would be placed on all goods and services imported to the U.S.

On each calendar year, the law stipulates that the duty would increase or decrease by 5 percent depending on whether the U.S. maintains a trade deficit or surplus, respectively.

Critics of Trump’s universal tariff proposals, which Golden appears to be emulating with this legislation, say the duty would cause the price of some goods and services in the U.S. to increase, effectively acting as a tax on the American consumer.

Concerns have also been raised regarding how universal tariffs could potentially prompt the implementation of retaliatory tariffs by U.S. trading partners, that could reduce U.S. exports by making them more expensive for foreign purchasers.

However, according to the CBO report, at least some of the decline in U.S. output that may result from universal tariffs would be offset by goods produced in America. The report also does acknowledge the duties collected from the higher tariffs would reduce the budget deficit, and would have negligible effects on inflation in the long term.

“It wasn’t that long ago that I thought the Democratic Party was literally the party of protection and economic policies, tariffs, against free trade deals, and pro-union,” said Golden told the Washington Post in a Thursday interview.

“Why are [Democrats] ceding our ground to him? This is ours, or it should be, and if it isn’t anymore, than I would suggest the party’s wrong,” Golden said.