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Tuberville marks Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’: Countries ‘need to start bringing gifts’ in form of tariffs
- Updated: Apr. 02, 2025, 3:00 p.m.
- |Published: Apr. 02, 2025, 3:00 p.m.
By
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., celebrated what President Donald Trump dubbed “Liberation Day” on Wednesday, claiming that countries “built off the American taxpayer” need to pay up in the form of tariffs.
“In this country, we’ve had a party for 249 years. United States has put that party on,” Alabama’s senior senator said on the Senate floor Wednesday as Democrats tried to prevent Trump’s tariffs from going into effect.
“The party needs to continue, but all the other countries that have been built off the American taxpayers, such as the Middle East, such as Europe, such as China, they need to start bringing gifts to the party because the American taxpayer can’t afford it any longer. We’re $37 trillion in debt. And the only way to pay that down is to force other people to help us. The American taxpayer can’t afford it,” Tuberville continued.
Tuberville’s speech came shortly before Trump is scheduled to give a “Liberation Day” address, where the president is expected to outline reciprocal tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada.
The senator credited the upcoming address with India, Vietnam, and Israel dropping and lowering tariffs against the United States.
Alabama’s senior senator also attacked the press and Democrats for opposing Trump’s trade agenda.
“The media, for some reason, is in full meltdown mode after President Trump declared today ‘Liberation Day.’ Only my Democratic colleagues and the media, globalist media would find a reason to be mad about that,” Tuberville said.
“I’m highly convinced that my colleagues in the woke media would rather President Trump fail than achieve a goal to help the United States of America and the taxpayers. President Trump’s views on tariffs – they aren’t complicated. He believes, as I do, that America has been ripped off by unfair trade deals for decades and simply wants a level playing field."
Just hours after Trump is set to announce his plan, the Senate was expected to vote on a resolution that offers Republicans an off-ramp to the import taxes on Canada.
It is a significant test for Republican loyalty to Trump’s vision of remaking the U.S. economy by clamping down on free trade. Many economists are warning that the plan could cause an economic contraction, and GOP senators are already watching with unease as Trump upends U.S. standing with the rest of the world.
Tuberville acknowledged that retaliatory tariffs may come from other countries following the president’s announcement.
“We need to take that in stride,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
