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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, my friend and colleague from Wyoming mentioned the New York Times this morning and reports, articles, on the economy, and so I took a quick look to see if I could find the column that he was referring to, though I couldn't find it, I did find this on page B2.

Headline: ``Stocks Decline Further As Investors Struggle To Make Sense Of Trump's Latest Tariff Talk.''

The article says:

Markets whipsawed on Tuesday, as investors puzzled through President Trump's commitment to tariffs, with stocks dropping in early trading before recovering late in the day. The S&P 500 index fell 1.5 percent at its low point before recovering some ground and ending the day 0.8 percent lower.

Same page B2:

Business confidence falls as uncertainty sets in. The confidence level of small businesses dropped for a third straight month in February wiping away much of the gains notched in the aftermath of President Trump's election victory.

I don't think the Trump plan for this economy is all that clear, and it appears that the writers of the New York Times agree. Many of the people in the business community are puzzled. Some are alarmed by the tariff talk of this administration and the zigzagging approach to the economy.

So I would say, at this moment the jury is still out and sending messages to the court that they are dubious about this policy at all.

If the Presiding Officer has any question in his own mind, I suggest he starts with the farmers in his State and ask them what they think of this tariff policy. I have been meeting with them over the last several days, and they are very skeptical, to say the least.

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