SEDONA – This weekend, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum for a panel discussion on the geopolitics of trade and energy. The Senator criticized President Donald Trump’s trade war and underscored its detrimental impact on international relations and the future of energy.
Senator Gallego was joined by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Craig Goldman (R-TX-12).
See below for excerpts from Senator Gallego from the forum
On Trump’s rationale for the trade war:
“I mean, back to the question, what is [Trump] even really saying? Unfair versus fair? Like, that’s not how we decide any type of tariff policy or any type of economic policy. So the fact that we’re trying to rationalize the stupidity is the first problem. Let’s be honest, what’s he doing? It’s utter chaos out there.”
On how Trump’s blanket tariffs will raise prices:
“So right now I’m in nesting mode. More importantly, my wife is in nesting mode. And so we are buying everything right now. And as I’m putting together that nursery, it all says made in China. And already, I’ve already seen some of those prices go up. I was talking to the store that we get our cribs from, and she’s already told me, ‘Ruben, once I’m out and everything in the store is out, you better go to Amazon once they’re out, we’re done.’ So the American public is going to feel it much sooner than people think. And I don’t think Donald Trump understands it. I don’t think Donald Trump has ever put a freaking nursery together in his whole life.”
On the long-term implications of Trump’s trade war with China:
“If we were going to go against China, if we were going to have a trade war against China, why not align ourselves with people that we have same values with, and make sure we are copacetic so that way we can go to China and say, listen, we really don’t like that you’re dumping steel in our country. We don’t like your wages are artificially low, and the working class is hurting behind that. And when we would have the European Union economy, North American economy, together, then we have more leverage. Instead, what we decided to do, we decided to be the drunk guy at the bar, just started punching everybody, and then we’re surprised that this is coming back to us. So in the long run, I think we end up losing a lot of trust and alliances – not just, obviously, with China.”
On Trump being a dealmaker:
Senator Gallego: “He co-wrote The Art of the Deal, number one. Number two, it’s not like it’s the Wealth of Nations, okay? Come on. He’s literally talking about land swaps in Manhattan versus Queens. We’re talking about an economic stabilizer that’s existence in Bretton Woods that has brought billions of people out of poverty, stabilized the world to the point where we have such less conflicts that we’ve ever seen in modern civilization. But none of that is going to be found in The Art of the Deal, co-written by somebody else. Come on, let’s be real, Donald Trump does not write anything. Donald Trump does not read.”
On how the U.S. can put more pressure on Russia’s energy sector:
“If we can use our power of innovation to export SMRs – small modular reactors – we can really make Europe independent from Russian carbon. And if you make Western Europe independent from Russian carbon, Russia is poor. If they’re poor, they can’t wage these wars.”
5/5/25