Washington Report: Senator Rounds

Washington Report: Economy Trade Ins is Impr tability oving Must , bu be t Addressed

Acrossthecountry,Americans are experiencing the benefits that come from a healthy, growing economy. In just the month of June, 213,000 new jobs were created and more than600,000peoplere-entered the work force. Since the Tax CutsandJobsActwassigned intolaw,1.5millionjobshave been created. This growth is due in large part to policies enacted by the current Congress and the Trump Administration.

In addition to strong job numbers, retail sales continue to show strong numbers. Consumers feel confident in the economy once again and because they are paying less to the government in taxes, they are free to spend their hardearned dollars how they see fit.Their spending provides a boost to businesses, who are then able to hire more workers to meet demand and pay their employees higher wages. This is a win-win-win for consumers, American businesses and employees.

CongressandtheWhiteHousehavealsobeenabletowork together on reforms to the Dodd-Frank Act, which has saddled our financial institutions with burdensome regulations and hindered their ability to serve their customers. Earlier this year, the president signed into law the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer ProtectionAct,whichincludedanumberofprovisionsthat I offered. This law provides relief to smaller, community banks and credit unions that had no part in the financial crisisbutweresubjecttothesameregulationsafterthefact that were put in place to keep big banks in check. When South Dakota’s banks and credit unions don’t have to spend so much on compliance costs, they can offer more services to customers and support businesses in their communities, which helps our economy flourish.

I serve on the Senate Banking Committee, which recently heldahearingtoreceiveaneconomicupdatefromFederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. He reported that Americans are optimistic about the state of our economy and about finding a good-paying job. I appreciated our discussionaboutthepositiveimpacttheTaxCutsandJobs Act,aswellasthereductionofburdensomeregulations,is havingonourGrossDomesticProduct(GDP)growthrate this year. Like Chairman Powell, I believe we have a very good opportunity for continued GDP growth. However, I shared with him my concern that trade instability— especially for the ag industry—will stifle our ability to reach our full economic potential. Without strong trading deals,Ifearwemaybegintolosesomeofthegainswe’ ve made in growing our economy.

It is up to theWhite House to finalize trade deals with our partners in Canada and Mexico, as well as the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) countries, as soon as possible. Retaliatory tariffs from China on South Dakota products like corn, wheat and soybeans has cost producers millions of dollars since the tariffs were announced. With the farm economydownmorethan50percentinSouthDakotaover the past five years, we need stability in our commodity pricesandweneedstrongtradedealsinplace—rightnow.

We’ll continue working to improve the economy for all Americans, and that means pushing for fair, strong trade deals.Wearepleasedtoseethatbusinessesareflourishing andworkersaremakingmoremoney,butwecan’tlettrade instability become an obstacle on our way to record-high economic growth.

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