Michigan representative on Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, tariffs and southern border
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Representative John James (R-Mich.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump's Friday meeting in the Oval Office.
When asked if he was "comfortable with the Trump administration's decision to stop recognizing that Russia started the war in Ukraine," James said:
"Russia is the aggressor. Putin is a war criminal, and Volodymyr Zelensky also fumbled the bag pretty hard. All those things can be true at the exact same time. We absolutely must stand by our allies with the exact same time. We also need to make sure that we are giving transparency and accountability to the American people. Under the Biden administration, billions of dollars were given away with very little accountability and no mission, no end state. I'm a combat veteran, and my soldiers expected from me that I would be able to articulate objectives, a mission and an end state. And the commander-in-chief, last time, couldn't do that. President Trump is doing everything that he can to get a lasting peace, an enduring peace in Eastern Europe and throughout the world. He's already ended one war in the Middle East. I think we should give him a chance to end one in Europe."
Brennan asked James what his district is bracing for when the president said, "This Tuesday, expect tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China," and James said:
"America is open for business, but we are not for sale. Michigan remembers what NAFTA did to us. And over the past 30 years, Mexico has built 11 major automotive plants to only one in the United States. Michigan remembers 900,000 automotive jobs over back in the 90s to 600,000 now. That's over...300,000 lost manufacturing jobs in the automotive sector. Michigan remembers the Great Recession, where 50% of all the jobs lost in all of America were lost in Michigan alone. And Michigan remembers the harmful EV mandates that have forced compliance rather than actually allowing a regulatory environment that permits innovation. We've lost jobs to Mexico and China. Right now, in my district, as you mentioned, the number one manufacturing district in all the nation, overflow production is not going to Sterling Heights. It's going to Saltillo, Mexico. When you look at the opportunities that are missing us, when you look at the fact that Michigan is seeing as opportunities pass by, enough is enough....The status quo is not good enough for Americans, which is why Donald Trump got elected...he's putting Americans first. And frankly, even our allies have not been playing a fair game."
During the interview, Brennan and James talked about the southern border, with Brennan saying "cars go back and forth across the border multiple times," which then prompted Brennan to ask what the construction of the tariffs that he thinks is actually going to be beneficial, and James responded saying:
"You know what also comes across the border, fentanyl coming in from Mexico, when China is sending in precursors, and as a result of these negotiation tactics, Mexico surged 10,000 of their own National Guard troops to the border. And just as you were mentioning the- in the last segment, I think it was great that border apprehensions on the southern border have plunged to the lowest levels this century. You know, if this is working, Mexico is paying for the border security. They're extraditing drug lords to be prosecuted in the United States of America. And these are the types of things that we're looking for. 84% of those in the terror watch list and the FBI terror watch list are apprehended on the northern border. And we're getting Canadian cooperation, which would have never happened under the previous administration and only started when President Trump started playing hard ball and talking about these things. We have a number of levers, diplomatic, economic and military and diplomatic levers haven't worked. We're using economic levers to secure our borders and to make sure that we have fairness across our economy."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with James, click here.
