TRANSCRIPT

                          May 01, 2025

                          NEWS PROGRAM

                                

                    REP. PAT HARRIGAN (R-NC)

                                

                                

                                

     CNN NEWS CENTRAL INTERVIEW WITH REP. PAT HARRIGAN (R-NC)

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     CNN NEWS CENTRAL INTERVIEW WITH REP. PAT HARRIGAN (R-NC)

     MAY 1, 2025

     SPEAKERS:
     REP. PAT HARRIGAN (R-NC)

     SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, we've been discussing the major minerals deal made between the White House and Ukraine, but polling showing Americans are extremely worried about other deals, those tariff deals that Donald Trump says he's working on but has not yet made.

Joining me now is Republican congressman from North Carolina, Pat Harrigan.

Thank you so much, Congressman, for joining us this morning. I know it's a busy time.

On tariffs, Donald Trump has just said that Americans should perhaps think of buying fewer dolls for their children, and that those dolls are actually going to cost a couple more bucks. Trump is surrounded by billionaires in his cabinet, and he's telling Americans to cut back. Is that a message that your constituents are happy with?

REP. PAT HARRIGAN (R-NC): I don't think it's indicative of any type of long-term trend. I think we're - what's very clearly happening right now is President Trump is putting the American economy in a position where it can actually better negotiate outcomes for American manufacturers and American consumers long term. So, I think that that was taken out of context.

But I will tell you, as a father of two young little girls, I -

SIDNER: It - it was not taken out of context, sir. Congressman, it was not taken out of context. It came out of the president's mouth. He told people that instead of buying 30 dolls for their children, maybe they should only buy a couple, and that they would be more expensive. What is the context that that was taken out of?

HARRIGAN: It - it's - it's a joke, right? And - and you've got to understand the president's sense of humor. As my sense of humor will now come through -

SIDNER: I don't - do think Americans - do your - Congressman, would your constituents think it's funny to tell them to stop buying things and to stop buying particularly dolls for their children while the economy is in a - is declining? We are seeing those numbers every single day.

HARRIGAN: The economy's not declining. It's in an uncertain position because the future of economic trade has not yet been hashed out in a way that is actually productive or conducive for long term American growth and prosperity. That's exactly what President Trump is trying to do through this.

And so I think taking anything out of context that should be humorous, right, I'm the father of two young little girls. I would so much rather have two dolls instead of 30 that I have to buy, because the 30 I just end up stepping on a nose in the middle of the night like a Lego and it hurts.

But look, the reality is, is this economy is set to boom because President Trump is injecting the ingredients that will actually allow American businesses and American consumers to be successful long term. And that is the take here. This is the long-term betterment of the American economy, as well as global financial stability that is at stake.

SIDNER: You do not think the economy is declining when we just saw brand new numbers showing that in April we lost more jobs than were lost in the pandemic. You think the economy is good even though the GDP has actually receded for the first time in many years?

HARRIGAN: I think we've got to understand that core GDP actually increased by 3 percent. Now, core GDP is exclusive of government spending. We have to understand, and I will tell you, as a manufacturer who is friends with many, many other manufacturers around the country, all of us knew that the core of our economy under President Joe Biden was incredibly weak. It was unstable. The conditions were not set for success. And any manufacturer that I talked to that did not derive their revenue from government spending has been in the hurt box for a long time. That's exactly why you've had so many folks in this country that make their money from the government doing incredibly well, yet Main Street is absolutely getting crushed. And that's been happening for years.

But right now, under President Trump, that core GDP is up 3 percent, real wages are up for the average middle class American 4.2 percent, over the inflation rate, all while inflation is down. We have mixed results out of the economy right now, but the underlying indicators, if you look for them underneath the surface, are actually really positive for long term American prosperity.

SIDNER: Do you believe what the world's chief economists have been saying? For example, Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody's, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, Nobel Prize winning economist Krugman and Stiglitz, all saying that if this tariff war is not either pulled back on or is - deals are not made very quickly, and were talking days and a few weeks as opposed to months, that we are headed into a recession? Do you believe that?

HARRIGAN: These are the same economists that thought that NAFTA was a great idea and saw from 2003 to 2018 1.8 million American manufacturing jobs vaporized, completely leveling my neck of the woods in our country with respect to furniture manufacturing and textile manufacturing. So, forgive me if we do not cooperate or identify with that long term concept when we understand that all President Trump is doing is entering into a high stakes negotiation that is in the best interest of the United States of America. All of our manufacturing companies and our broader world economy, if you like the free world, that's what's at stake. That's what we're doing. And we are going to win this because, as President Trump said, we hold all the cards.

SIDNER: The GM CEO just said that she is going to lose $5 billion during this tariff war. So, we will see if what you're saying comes true in the long run.

Congressman Pat Harrigan, thank you so much.

HARRIGAN: A trillion dollars of investment in domestic manufacturing has already happened under President Trump. That is what you're going to see continue because of what President Trump has done, and will continue to do.

SIDNER: We'll be watching.

HARRIGAN: Thanks for having me today, Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you so much.

END