Rep. Byron Donalds emphasized the crucial role of President Trump’s tariffs and trade policies in securing America’s economic future during a Newsmax appearance on Friday. The Florida Republican highlighted how numerous nations built their economic strength by implementing tariffs that American consumers ultimately paid for.
Speaking on “The Chris Salcedo Show,” Donalds explained how this dynamic has reshaped global commerce. “The byproduct of that has been a lot of jobs have gone overseas, manufacturing has gone overseas, and now those countries are a lot stronger,” he noted. While acknowledging America’s continued economic dominance, he pointed out that competing nations have significantly narrowed the gap.
For DECADES, countries–both friend and foe alike–have built their economies on the back of the US economy.
These countries are no longer developing nations, now have very strong economies, yet STILL unfairly tariff us.
If we are going to have free trade, it must be FAIR TRADE. pic.twitter.com/9QhdIsiDBX
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) April 3, 2025
The congressman stressed the necessity of establishing equilibrium in international trade relations. “So we now need to leave that era where there were real trade imbalances that were to the detriment of American workers here in the United States to a much more fairer trading system, which is how you can have free trade going into the future.”
Donalds, who has declared his candidacy for governor, also addressed concerns about certain federal judges who appear to have sidestepped constitutional principles when blocking Trump’s executive actions. “Because at the end of the day, the court system, the whole federal system is supposed to judge the constitutionality — not the execution of whether it’s something that the president does or an agency does when it’s already under law.”
The discussion concluded with Donalds expressing the importance of securing Democratic senators’ support for either implementing new judicial controls or completely overhauling the federal court system.
Byron Donalds: "Let's be very clear: The real pain economically has been the massive inflation coming from bloated overspending here in Washington… What President Trump is trying to do now is bring industries back to the United States." pic.twitter.com/nqUhYKCBUI
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) April 3, 2025
