Congressman Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, said he “very, very strongly” opposes any plans by the President Joe Biden administration to remove tariffs on some Chinese goods.

“I have been very clear in my position here that I think lifting these tariffs that (were) put on” by Donald Trump, a Republican, “would be a huge mistake by this administration.”

Ryan, D-Howland, said Tuesday that he supported Trump when the then-president imposed the tariffs in September 2018 after an investigation determined China stole intellectual property from American companies.

But Ryan’s past comments show that wasn’t the case.

Biden, a Democrat, is considering lifting tariffs on about $350 billion of goods in an effort to reduce inflation, which is at a 40-year high, and bring down prices. The president can remove those tariffs without congressional support.

“It would be a big mistake for us to lift these tariffs now,” Ryan said.

He added: “There is no real evidence that lifting these tariffs is going to have any impact at all on inflationary pressures and once again it will reduce our ability to build the manufacturing base here in the United States and it will continue to tilt the balance toward China. So I will oppose this administration on this issue and thinking they’re getting a lot of bad information on the issue on the inflationary impact this will have, and we need this administration to stand strong.”

PAST COMMENTS

Ryan’s statements Tuesday about supporting Trump’s tariffs on China are different than what he said in 2019 when he was running for president.

In May 2019, he tweeted: “China is cleaning our clock. We need to invest into the U.S. and out-compete them. Tariffs only get you headlines.”

A month later, he said regarding tariffs,Trump didn’t have a “big strategy. He has a tactic that gets him on TV because he sends a tweet out — tariffs are on, tariffs are off — and the media runs with it all the time, and it changes the subject, and he can look tough.”

In September 2019, he told The Washington Post that “tariffs on China are an absolute necessity for balancing the American trade deficit. With that being said, the goods being targeted — and the tariff rates — are abominable and must be revised immediately. I think there are legal remedies that can be used that carry the weight of a legal regime as opposed to the nonsensical order in which President Trump has imposed tariffs.”

As Trump was considering tariffs on steel and aluminum, Ryan told NPR in March 2018 that if they were “targeted” towards China “then this is an appropriate remedy to help the industry stay robust here in the United States.”

In July 2018, he tweeted Trump’s tariffs were “designed to inflict maximum damage on the U.S. economy, for minimal gain.”

Responding Tuesday to his past comments, Ryan said: “My record is very, very clear. We can squabble about some of the details of it, how things are implemented and all the Washington stuff in the details we have to deal with. But my record is very, very clear on this.”

Ryan said, “There is a lot of opposition to this in Congress, and I will be leading the opposition to this. We just think the administration needs to reevaluate it if what we’re hearing is true.”

Ryan sent a letter last week to Biden in opposition to the tariff reduction writing it “would strip the U.S. of leverage in negotiations with China, inundate American companies with a slew of imports they may not be able to withstand and would essentially reward China for failing to comply with” trade agreements.

VANCE CRITICISM

J.D. Vance, the Republican Senate nominee, said Ryan was critical of Trump’s tariffs on China in the past.

“That is the record,” Vance said Tuesday. “When he was actually in office (and) and had an opportunity to do something to protect American manufacturing and the workers who depend on those industries from China, he did nothing. Now he’s running as a support of tariffs. The only thing it tells you is that when Tim Ryan’s mouth is moving, he is lying.”

Asked about Vance’s comments, Ryan said: “I’m just impressed that J.D. Vance is paying attention all the way from San Francisco on what was going on in Ohio (for years), but again my record is clear on this. I’ve been involved with tariffs over the years. I’m not going to get into a process argument about how things are getting implemented. I’m talking about what my record has been, what I have voted for.”

Vance was living in California when he moved back to Ohio in 2016.