Press Releases
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) highlighted a new report from the Joint Economic Committee warning that the Trump Administration’s sweeping tariff regime—which has included almost 100 different policies since April—has directly harmed the American manufacturing sector and could cost the U.S. more than $490 billion in manufacturing investments by 2029.
“If President Trump were actually focused on lowering costs, he would never have never implemented his idiotic, unpopular sales taxes in the form of tariffs,” said the senators. “This report clearly shows the short and long-term damage Trump’s tariffs will have on American manufacturing businesses and consumers. We’re going to keep doing all that we can to pressure Trump to listen to these critical warning signs, reverse course, and put our economy first.”
The Joint Economic Committee, using both U.S. business investment growth projections and economic analyses of uncertainty for United Kingdom businesses in the years following the U.K. Brexit vote to leave the European Union, found that:
- A prolonged period of economic uncertainty in the U.S.—as the U.K. faced—could result in more than a 13 percent decrease in manufacturing investment per year, totaling more than $490 billion by 2029.
- Since April, when Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, the U.S. has lost 37,000 manufacturing jobs and hiring in the manufacturing sector has dropped to the lowest level in nearly a decade. After a surge during the previous administration, manufacturing construction spending has been in decline since Trump took office, as businesses refrain from making major investments amidst the economic uncertainty.
- Even if the uncertainty about the U.S. economy were to end tomorrow, the uncertainty that businesses have already experienced because of tariffs will have long term effects on U.S. manufacturing. Committee calculations find that the economic uncertainty experienced in April alone could result in a one percent reduction in manufacturing investment per year, a loss of more than $42 billion by 2029.
Read the full report here.
Warner and Kaine have been leaders in the fight against Trump’s dangerous tariff policies. In July, Kaine, the Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, announced his intent to file legislation to challenge Trump’s tariffs on goods from Brazil. The legislation is privileged, which means the Senate will be forced to vote on the legislation soon. In April, the senators successfully secured Senate passage of a bill to undo Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods. Kaine has since sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson demanding that he schedule a vote in the House of Representatives on his Senate-passed legislation. Kaine also forced a vote on his bipartisan legislation to repeal President Trump’s across-the-board tariffs that the White House announced on April 2.
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Top Senate Democrats Warn Trump AI Chip Deal with China Raises Legal and National Security Risks
Aug 15 2025
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader; Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Chris Coons (D-DE), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to President Trump urging him to reverse his recent decision to allow AMD and Nvidia to sell advanced AI semiconductor chips to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for a fee.
The senators emphasized that such sales “run counter to U.S. national security interests” and highlighted concerns that the collection of fees may violate U.S. statutes and possibly the Constitution.
The letter cites the president’s August 11, 2025, statement regarding a “negotiated deal” in which a 15 percent fee would be charged to enable these sales. The senators noted that U.S. export laws explicitly prohibit fees “in connection with the submission, processing, or consideration of any application for a license or other authorization or other request.”
The senators wrote that U.S. national security relies on protecting America’s advantage in AI computing capability and access to leading-edge hardware. They warned that advanced AI chips sold to China could be used to strengthen its military systems, including hypersonics, communications, surveillance, and battlefield decision-making.
“Our national security and military readiness relies upon American innovators inventing and producing the best technology in the world, and in maintaining that qualitative advantage in sensitive domains. The United States has historically been successful in maintaining and building that advantage because of, in part, our ability to deny adversaries access to those technologies,” wrote the senators. “The willingness displayed in this arrangement to ‘negotiate’ away America’s competitive edge that is key to our national security in exchange for what is, in effect, a commission on a sale of AI-enabling technology to our main global competitor, is cause for serious alarm.”
The letter also requests detailed information from the administration by August 22 regarding the negotiation, legality, collection, and intended use of the proposed 15 percent fee, as well as whether similar arrangements are being considered for other companies.
The senators concluded, “We again urge your administration to quickly reverse course and abandon this reckless plan to trade away U.S. technology leadership.”
The letter follows an earlier missive to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on July 28, urging the against the sales.
The full text of today’s letter is available here.
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WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.), Ranking Senate Defense Appropriator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Senate Armed Services Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations Ranking Member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Senate Armed Services Committee member Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Senate Intelligence Committee member Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Senate Armed Services Committee member Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), and Senate Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance Ranking Member Andy Kim (D-N.J.) released the following statement about public reporting that President Trump is pausing export controls on critical technology sold to China as part of an effort to secure a trade deal with Beijing:
“President Trump has spent the past six months eroding our advantages over China, but recent developments make clear how willing his administration is to sacrifice American economic and technological leadership for symbolic “wins” with China in its self-inflicted trade war.
“In just the last two days, we have seen reporting that the Trump administration has cancelled a long-planned high-level security dialogue with Taiwan and denied the president of Taiwan the ability to transit the United States—a longstanding tradition respected by administrations of both parties. These developments come right on the heels of a decision to pave the way for the sale of advanced AI chips to China and to freeze export controls on additional American technologies enabling them to now flow to China, even as Beijing tightens export controls on the United States. Independent media reports today suggest these moves are an attempt to secure trade concessions, curry favor with President Xi Jinping, and ensure President Trump gets a visit to China. The president is demonstrating to Beijing that he can be cajoled into giving up America’s core interests.
“In the face of lackluster domestic economic forecasts and anemic interest from Beijing in achieving a real breakthrough in talks, President Trump and his economic team have ceded leverage and negotiating power to Beijing in a desperate attempt to lure President Xi to a meeting with President Trump. Even more dangerously, they risk putting American national security, technological advantage, and economic prosperity on the chopping block in order to do so.
“President Trump is handing our primary geopolitical adversary the keys to the castle of 21st century global technological dominance. Doing so will enable Chinese leadership in artificial intelligence, infusing the Chinese military with the technological advantage it needs to continue hostile operations across the globe. He is signaling his ambivalence about standing with Taiwan, our long-term partner in the region and a powerhouse of the global economy. And he is emboldening Beijing to take aggressive actions and seek even more aggressive concessions in whatever trade negotiations may follow.
“President Trump and this administration must reset their dangerously weak approach to China and make clear they will no longer accept symbolic wins in exchange for steep American concessions. An administration convinced it can renegotiate the world order needs to stop negotiating against itself.”
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Top Senate Democrats Sound Alarm on Administration's Decision to Resume AI Chip Sales to China
Jul 28 2025
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader; Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Chris Coons (D-DE), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressing “grave concern” over the Trump administration’s decision to reverse course and allow U.S. companies to sell certain advanced semiconductors to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The move, which reverses previous restrictions imposed due to national security risks, will permit the sale of Nvidia’s H20 chip, despite its demonstrated utility in advancing China’s AI capabilities. In the letter, the senators warn this decision marks “an abrupt departure from the administration’s position in April that the PRC’s continued access to these types of chips posed a serious national security risk,” and stands in direct contradiction to the administration’s own AI Action Plan. In the letter, the senators emphasize that “restricting access to leading-edge chips has been the defining barrier for the PRC’s efforts to achieve AI parity.”
The letter outlines how advanced semiconductors like the H20 play a critical role in China’s ability to train large-scale AI models and deploy them across global cloud infrastructure, boosting the capabilities and global reach of PRC firms like Alibaba, Tencent, and DeepSeek.
Wrote the senators, “Limiting the PRC’s access to advanced compute has been a focus of Congress: one with a strong bipartisan commitment across both chambers and both parties. The PRC’s development of advanced AI capabilities represents a clear risk to the United States’ national and economic security, and the administration’s willingness to trade away that security is extremely troubling. While chipsets like the H20 and MI308 have differing capabilities than the most advanced chips like the H100, they give the PRC capabilities that its domestically-developed chipsets cannot. The capabilities that chips like the H20 allow the PRC, demonstrated by the importance that the PRC places on access to them, should be the principal factor driving any decision to allow sales to China.”
The senators also condemned the administration’s decision-making process, criticizing the lack of congressional consultation and warning against the use of export controls as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations.
“Furthermore, we take issue that this administration is permitting adversaries access to technologies critical to national security as part of trade discussions without consultation or input from Congress. While the Executive Branch is entrusted with vital authorities to negotiate trade agreements and protect our national security, these authorities by no means should be treated as in tension, particularly when such an approach has the effect of jeopardizing both economic and national security goals. We shouldn’t be trading away key technological advantages as if they are concessions in a trade negotiation,” the senators concluded. “We urge you to swiftly reverse course on these ill-advised actions and protect American advantages across the compute stack.”
The full text of today’s letter to Secretary Lutnick is available here.
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Warner, Kaine, and Klobuchar Unveil Legislation to Undo President Trump's Senseless Taxes on Canadian Goods
Mar 05 2025
WASHINGTON– Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, (D-VA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), unveiled legislation to undo President Donald Trump’s wildly unpopular tariffs on Canadian goods, which amount to a 25 percent tax on goods imported from one of America’s top trading partners and closest allies.
“Virginians can’t afford the cost of President Trump’s tariffs, which will raise prices on everything from groceries to houses and cars,” said Sen. Warner. “Congress must step in before President Trump tanks our economy.”
“Americans want prices to go down—not skyrocket, which is exactly what will happen if Congress lets President Trump slap new taxes on goods from one of our largest trading partners and closest allies,” said Sen. Kaine. “We don’t need to guess what kind of damage these senseless new taxes will do. During Trump’s first term, his trade wars spelled disaster for Virginians, particularly for farmers and foresters who were hit especially hard. Congress has a responsibility to stop that from happening again, and I urge all of my colleagues to join me in blocking Trump from destroying our economy.”
“This Administration is igniting a reckless trade war and regular Americans are paying the price,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “Costs for everyone will go up and our farmers and businesses will suffer. Canada is Minnesota’s top trading partner and is a key U.S. ally. We must reverse these damaging tariffs before it’s too late.”
In Virginia in 2024, Canada was the largest export market and accounted for 15 percent of Virginia exports. In Virginia in 2022, top goods exports to Canada included motor vehicles and transportation equipment, such as medium- and heavy-duty trucks. 56.1 percent of Southwest Virginia’s economic output is dependent on trade.
Polls have overwhelmingly demonstrated that the American people do not support Trump’s trade wars. According to a recent survey by Public First, just 28 percent of American adults supported specifically applying tariffs to Canada, while 43 percent opposed.
Specifically, the senators’ legislation would work by terminating the February 1 emergency that Trump used to launch his trade war with Canada, and thus eliminate the tariffs on Canadian imports implemented as a result. Trump’s order cites the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), an unprecedented use of IEEPA in its nearly half century history. After an initial one-month delay, President Trump decided to move forward with the tariffs, with the import taxes starting to be collected on March 4, 2025. In total, President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs will cost the average American household up to $2,000 a year, with the Canada tariffs making up a significant portion of that. These IEEPA tariffs represent the largest tax increase on American families in recent history.
A copy of the legislation is available here.
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Warner, Kaine, and Scott Applaud $380 Million in Inflation Reduction Act Funding for the Port of Virginia
Oct 29 2024
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) and U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA-03) announced $380,000,000 in federal funding for the Port of Virginia to accelerate its plan to become carbon-neutral by 2040. Warner, Kaine, and Scott advocated for this funding and sent a letter of support for this grant. The funding was awarded through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program, which was made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act that the members helped pass.
“The Port of Virginia is one of the largest and busiest ports on the eastern seaboard, and it’s critical to Virginia’s economy and offshore wind industry. As the Port of Virginia continues to grow thanks to investments we’re making, we must also ensure we’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which result in negative health and environmental impacts for our communities,” said the lawmakers. “That’s why we’re thrilled that this federal funding, which was made possible by theInflation Reduction Act we supported, will accelerate the Port’s efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and further cement Virginia’s place as a leader in clean energy.”
The Inflation Reduction Act made historic investments to support clean energy projects. It included clean energy tax credits that have incentivized a series of corporate investments in Virginia, including:
- A $681 million investment by LS GreenLink to build a state-of-the-art facility to manufacture high-voltage subsea cables used for offshore wind farms inChesapeake, which will create over 330 jobs in Virginia.
- An investment of over $400 million by Topsoe to build a new manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County, which will create at least 150 new jobs in Virginia.
- An investment of $208 million by Mack and Volvo Trucks—in addition to a federal grant award of over $208 million for the company—to sustain 7,900 union jobs and create 295 new jobs in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Volvo Trucks is the second largest employer in the New River Valley, sustaining 3,600 jobs in Dublin, including 3,200 United Automobile Workers (UAW) jobs. In September 2024, Warner and Kaine visited Volvo’s New River Valley plant to celebrate the investment.
Today’s announcement builds on other transformational investments made to the Port of Virginia by the Biden-Harris administration with the backing of Warner, Kaine, and Scott. That includes $225.4 million to fully fund the Norfolk Harbor Deepening and Widening Project, which will improve navigation and expand capacity by deepening and widening Norfolk Harbor’s shipping channels, allowing for two-way traffic in and out of the harbor. Of this amount, $141.7 million was made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and $83.7 million was provided through the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus appropriations bill.
The Port also previously received $20 million in federal funding from the Department of Transportation for improvements to Portsmouth Marine Terminal that will allow it to serve as a staging area to support the manufacturing and movement of offshore wind goods to support the 2.6 gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project and other commercial offshore wind projects up-and-down the East Coast. Warner, Kaine, and Scott led a Virginia Congressional Delegation letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in support of the Port’s application for that funding.
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WASHINGTON —Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), member of the Senate Finance Committee, released the following statement on President Joe Biden’s nomination of Nelson Cunningham to serve as Deputy United States Trade Representative:
“I applaud President Biden’s nomination of Nelson Cunningham to serve as Deputy United States Trade Representative. With a distinguished career in the public and private sectors, Mr. Cunningham brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role. His deep understanding of foreign policy and international trade issues makes him an excellent choice to serve as Deputy USTR. I am confident that Mr. Cunningham’s experience and acumen will allow him to effectively advance strategic U.S. trade policy goals on the world stage.”
Nelson Cunningham currently serves as the President Emeritus of McLarty Associates, a global strategy firm that he helped co-found in 1998. Prior to this role, he served in the Clinton White House as General Counsel for the Office of Administration and then as Special Advisor to the President for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Cunningham also served as General Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee under then-Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE) and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Following his graduation from Stanford Law School, he clerked for The Honorable James Hunter III on the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, after which point he moved on to serve as an Associate at the law firm Hale and Dorr.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative negotiates directly with foreign governments to create trade agreements, to resolve disputes, and to participate in global trade policy organizations. It also meets with governments, business groups, legislators, and public interest groups to gather input on trade issues and to discuss the President's trade policy positions.
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Warner & Rubio Urge Biden Admin to Prevent Flow of U.S. Innovation to China's Military Industrial Complex
Feb 21 2023
WASHINGTON – Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) wrote to the Biden administration to request that it expand the use of existing tools and authorities at the Departments of Treasury and Commerce to prevent China’s military industrial complex from benefiting from U.S. technology, talent and investments.
In a pair of letters, the Senators expressed concern with the flow of U.S. innovation, talent, and capital into the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which seeks to exert control over global supply chains, achieve technological superiority, and rise as the dominant economic and military power in the world. They also stress the need to utilize the authorities at the government’s disposal to protect U.S. interests and ensure that American businesses, investors, and consumers are not inadvertently advancing China’s authoritarian interests or supporting its ongoing genocide in Xinjiang and human rights abuses in Tibet and Hong Kong.
In their letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Senators wrote, “It is widely known that the PRC’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) program targets technological advancements in the U.S., as well as university and research partnerships with the U.S., for the PRC’s military development. U.S. technology, talent, and capital continue to contribute—through both lawful and unlawful means, including theft—to the PRC’s development of critical military-use industries, technologies, and related supply chains. The breadth of the MCF program’s ambitions and reach creates dangerous vulnerabilities for U.S. national and economic security as well as undermines respect for democratic values globally.”
The Senators also posed a number of questions for Sec. Yellen regarding Treasury’s internal Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) lists, which do not include a number of entities and individuals who have been identified by the U.S. Government as posing national security risks or human rights concerns.
In their letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the Senators wrote, “Despite recent restrictions on the export of sensitive technologies critical to U.S. national security, we remain deeply concerned that American technology, investment, and talent continue to support the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) military industrial complex, intelligence and security apparatus, its ongoing genocide, and other PRC efforts to displace United States economic leadership. As such, we urge the Department of Commerce to immediately use its authorities to more broadly restrict these activities.”
The Senators also requested answers from Sec. Raimondo regarding America’s most critical high-technology sectors, the Department’s ability and authority to evaluate companies’ reliance on China and assess the flow of U.S. innovation to PRC entities.
A copy of the letter to the Department of Treasury is available here. A copy of the letter to the Department of Commerce is available here.
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“We’ve seen America’s supply of semiconductors fall from about 33 percent of manufacturing down to single digits. We’ve almost seen the exact converse take place in terms of China’s investments,” Chairman Warner said in his opening statement. “My fear is that what we are seeing in semiconductors and the need for us to make investments, we may need similar types of approaches in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, synthetic biology. We need to maintain America and the West’s leadership in cutting-edge technologies.”
In April, Chairman Warner was selected to serve on the conference committee of Senators and House members working to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the jobs and competitiveness bill. This bill has been known variously as the Bipartisan Innovation Act, America COMPETES Act, the United States Innovation and Competition Act, and the Endless Frontier Act.
Once the conference committee comes to an agreement on a final version of the bill, the House and Senate will each vote on whether to send that bill to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
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Statement From U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner On Decision by FTC & DOJ to Revise Merger Guidelines
Jan 18 2022
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued the following statement after the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission announced that they would be reviewing and updating guidelines on mergers:
“I welcome the decision by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to review and update their guidelines on both horizontal and vertical mergers. As a former technology entrepreneur, I know the incredible possibilities that can be achieved when companies bring together their resources and expertise in a merger. However, over the past few years, with the increasing concentration of power in the hands of a small group of companies, acquisition has become the only exit strategy for most startups, as the built-in advantages are too great to overcome. I look forward to working with the DOJ and FTC to ensure that these new merger guidelines strike the right balance between fostering innovation and preventing harmful consolidation.”
Sen. Warner, a former tech entrepreneur, is a cosponsor of the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act, sweeping legislation to reinvigorate America’s antitrust laws and restore competition to American markets.
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Warner Leads VA Democratic Delegation in Letter Requesting Support for Norfolk Harbor Project
Dec 02 2021
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) led members of the Virginia congressional delegation in requesting at least $159 million in federal funding for the Norfolk Harbor Widening and Deepening project. In a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Shalanda Young and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor, the lawmakers requested that this funding be approved in part through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Fiscal Year 2022 Work Plan, and through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
“Deepening Norfolk Harbor to 55 feet from its current 50 feet depth and widening Thimble Shoal Channel to 1,400 feet will enable safe, two-way traffic in and out of the harbor and will help prevent delays to commercial and military vessels – a necessity in today’s global trading landscape,” the lawmakers wrote. “Expanding Norfolk Harbor to allow for two-way traffic will also help prevent backlogs of commercial vessels that could cause costly delays and supply chain disruptions that are currently affecting some port facilities across the U.S.”
In their letter, the Members of Congress stressed the importance of federal funds in enabling the project’s on-time completion, as well as the important role the Port of Virginia plays in both the state and national economy.
“The Port of Virginia is a commercial and economic engine for the United States and continues to play an integral role in American foreign and domestic commerce and trade. Federal investment into this project will allow the Port to remain a prominent economic hub for the nation and a key player in domestic and international trade by generating more than $3.9 billion in net national economic development benefits,” they continued.
Specifically, the lawmakers requested that a minimum of $75.3 million in funding be made available through the bipartisan infrastructure law that was passed earlier this year. These federal dollars would go towards fully funding construction of the inner harbor and advancing construction of the Atlantic Ocean Channel – measures that would help address capacity constraints at the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area.
Additionally, the lawmakers requested that at least $83.7 million in funding be maintained in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fiscal Year 2022 Work Plan, which allocates funding for civil works projects across the nation each fiscal year. Earlier this year, Sen. Warner celebrated the inclusion of $83.7 million in funding for the Norfolk Harbor project in President Biden’s budget request. These proposed funds were subsequently included in the spending bills approved by the House and Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittees. If included in the FY22 Work Plan, these federal dollars would fund construction for the Newport News Channel and a portion of the inner harbor.
Sens. Warner and Kaine have long been strong advocates for the Norfolk Harbor project. In February, Sen. Warner spoke about the importance of the project during a Senate Banking Committee hearing. Sen. Warner also led the Virginia congressional delegation in a letter to OMB requesting a New Start designation for the project in January of this year. This request was also made in 2020. In July, Sen. Kaine advocated for the project to Assistant Secretary Connor as part of his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In 2018, Sens. Warner and Kaine successfully fought for the inclusion of the Norfolk Harbor Widening and Deepening project, in addition to other coastal resiliency programs, in the bipartisan water infrastructure bill.
In addition to Sen. Warner, the letter was signed by U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Reps. Elaine Luria (D-VA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Donald McEachin (D-VA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Don Beyer (D-VA), Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), and Gerry Connolly (D-VA).
Full text of the letter is here and below.
The Honorable Shalanda Young
Acting Director
Office of Management and Budget
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20503
The Honorable Michael L. Connor
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314
Dear Acting Director Young and Assistant Secretary Connor:
As lawmakers representing the Commonwealth of Virginia, we write today concerning funding needs for the Norfolk Harbor and Channels Widening and Deepening project. In order to keep this essential project for Virginia on schedule, we request at least $159 million in federal funding in Fiscal Year 2022 through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Fiscal Year 2022 Work Plan and funding made available through the recently enacted bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
The Port of Virginia is one of the largest and busiest ports on the East Coast and is one of the Commonwealth’s most powerful economic engines. Annually, the Port of Virginia is responsible for more than 400,000 jobs and $92 billion in spending across Virginia and generates more than seven and half percent of the Commonwealth’s Gross State Product. The Port’s reach also extends throughout the Mid-Atlantic and into the Ohio Valley and Midwest. U.S. exports account for more than half of its container movements and serve a robust rail market to and from American farmers and manufacturers throughout the Midwest and Ohio Valley.
The widening and deepening of Norfolk Harbor is essential to continue safe and timely passage of ever-increasing commercial and military vessels through the harbor. Deepening Norfolk Harbor to 55 feet from its current 50 feet depth and widening Thimble Shoal Channel to 1,400 feet will enable safe, two-way traffic in and out of the harbor and will help prevent delays to commercial and military vessels – a necessity in today’s global trading landscape. Expanding Norfolk Harbor to allow for two-way traffic will also help prevent backlogs of commercial vessels that could cause costly delays and supply chain disruptions that are currently affecting some port facilities across the U.S.
Construction on the first constructible element of the Norfolk Harbor project, deepening Thimble Shoal Channel – West, began in December 2019, 18 months ahead of schedule. In August 2021, the Port awarded a contract to deepen and widen Thimble Shoal Channel – East. Both segments are scheduled to be complete by August 2022. Both contracts are funded and administered by the Port and are in full compliance with federal standards under a Memorandum of Understanding with USACE in July 2017. Further, the construction work is eligible as Work-In-Kind once a Project Partnership Agreement is signed. The Commonwealth of Virginia has provided full funding of $20 million for Preconstruction Engineering and Design and $330 million for construction in its FY19-20 biennial budget.
We were pleased that the President’s FY22 Budget Request included $83.7 million and a New Start designation for the Norfolk Harbor project. We were also pleased to see this funding maintained in the House and Senate Fiscal Year 2022 Energy and Water Subcommittee Appropriations bills. As the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations process continues, we respectfully request this amount be maintained in the USACE Fiscal Year 2022 Work Plan. This amount will fund construction for the Newport News Channel and a portion of the inner harbor. In addition, we request at least $75.3 million in funding through the recently signed IIJA to fully fund inner harbor construction and advance Atlantic Ocean Channel construction to address capacity constraints at the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area. Allocating at least $159 million in federal funding to Norfolk Harbor in Fiscal Year 2022 will allow this nationally significant project to remain on track for completion by early 2025.
The Port of Virginia is a commercial and economic engine for the United States and continues to play an integral role in American foreign and domestic commerce and trade. Federal investment into this project will allow the Port to remain a prominent economic hub for the nation and a key player in domestic and international trade by generating more than $3.9 billion in net national economic development benefits. Completion of this project will also support the construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project – a 2.6-gigawatt commercial offshore wind project off Virginia’s coast that will power up to 660,000 Virginia homes and the Commonwealth’s push to become a hub for offshore wind development along the East Coast.
Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions regarding this request. We look forward to continue working with you to support this critical project for Virginia and our nation’s ports and harbors.
Sincerely,
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Statement of U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner on the Inaugural U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council
Sep 10 2021
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued the statement below regarding the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) to expand and deepen trade and transatlantic investment ties for the 21st century economy:
“I am pleased to see the announcement of the inaugural U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council Meeting. For several years now, I have been leading calls to update our approach to digital trade, working with like-minded allies to develop rules to reflect and uplift democratic values. For too long, the U.S. position on digital trade has been to promote continued laissez faire, even as we saw the downsides of this approach to technology governance over recent years. I am hopeful that Secretary Blinken, Secretary Raimondo and Ambassador Tai will work with our European allies to update our digital trade policies to promote innovation, privacy, competition, and consumer protection.”
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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA) joined U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IN) in sending a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The letter calls the agencies to address the harmful retaliatory tariffs that inhibit trade of whiskey, other spirits, and wine between the United States and European Union (E.U.) and United Kingdom (U.K.). The letter comes as the European Union tariff on American whiskey is scheduled to double to 50 percent in June.
Twenty five percent retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey were imposed by the E.U. and the U.K. in 2018 in response to the Trump Administration’s Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
In their letter, the Senators stressed the negative impact that an increase in these tariffs would have on local businesses, as many are still struggling to stay afloat due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These tariffs have negatively impacted the U.S. beverage alcohol sector and placed American producers at a severe competitive disadvantage in what had been a growing export market for them,” the Senators wrote.
“Securing an agreement to permanently lift these tariffs on wine and spirits will help restaurants, bars, and craft distilleries across the country as they recover from the pandemic,” the Senators continued.
Along with Senators Warner, Kaine, and Young, the letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Rand Paul (R-KY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), John Cornyn (R-TX), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Mike Braun (R-IN).
Full text of the letter can be found here and below:
The Honorable Katherine Tai
United States Trade Representative
Executive Office of the President
600 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20508
The Honorable Gina M. Raimondo
Secretary
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20230
Dear Ambassador Tai and Secretary Raimondo,
We write today to emphasize the importance of working to remove harmful retaliatory tariffs on distilled spirits and wine to promote free and fair trade between the United States, European Union and United Kingdom. These tariffs have negatively impacted the U.S. beverage alcohol sector and placed American producers at a severe competitive disadvantage in what had been a growing export market for them.
American craft spirits production has grown substantially in recent decades, and in 2020 more than 2,000 distillers operated in the United States, employing tens of thousands of workers spread across all 50 states. With this growth came overseas opportunities. American Whiskey in particular saw a significant rise in exports, with exports to the EU growing by 40 percent from 2008 to 2018. The implementation of retaliatory tariffs, though, have inhibited this growth. Since June 2018, American Whiskey has faced a 25 percent tariff in the EU and UK. Whiskey exports to the EU have dropped by 37 percent since then and exports to the UK have been cut in half. This tariff is currently scheduled to increase to 50 percent in the EU on June 1, 2021.
Like other small businesses involved in the food and drink industry, American craft distillers have struggled during the pandemic, as on-site sales and sales to restaurants and bars declined substantially. Nearly a third of craft distillers’ employees have been furloughed since the start of the pandemic. These employers are just now starting the road to recovery and the continuation, and potential increase, of these tariffs will inhibit this recovery.
The recent suspension of tariffs related to the WTO large civil aircraft subsidy dispute, including on U.S. rum, brandy, and vodka, has provided critical relief for many in the hospitality and beverage alcohol sector at a critical time. Securing an agreement to permanently lift these tariffs on wine and spirits will help restaurants, bars, and craft distilleries across the country as they recover from the pandemic.
As the Biden administration works to address trade disputes with our allies in Europe, we urge the administration to work to secure the immediate suspension of tariffs on American Whiskey and, ultimately, the permanent removal of all retaliatory tariffs on American, EU, and UK spirits and wine.
Thank you for your attention to this critical issue.
Sincerely,
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Warner, Thune, Stabenow, Fischer Reintroduce Bill to Protect U.S. From Digital Infrastructure Corruption
Feb 24 2021
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) today joined U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), to reintroduce the Network Security Trade Act, legislation to ensure U.S. communications infrastructure security is a clear negotiating objective of our country’s trade policy.
“Promoting the security and integrity of global digital infrastructure should be among the most paramount digital trade objectives the U.S. pursues,” said Warner. “It is long past time to make this a key negotiating objective in order to promote a more long-term, multilateral strategy to safeguard the global telecommunications market from providers like Huawei that could pose a serious risk to digital infrastructure across the globe.”
“There is a lot of promise with new and advanced technologies like 5G, but the United States can only deliver on those promises if we maintain the security of communications networks, both at home and abroad,” said Thune. “This legislation would ensure that the security of the equipment and technology that create the global communications infrastructure is front and center in our trade negotiations, because you can’t have optimal free trade if the global digital infrastructure is compromised.”
“When it comes to national security, one of our nation’s top priorities must be protecting our communication systems that we all depend on every day,” said Stabenow. “This bill helps leverage our trade negotiating powers to make sure our telecommunication networks like 5G are safe and secure.”
“The transition to 5G represents a major opportunity for American businesses, but it also poses serious challenges for America’s national security,” said Fischer. “Many other countries have plans to deploy equipment made by China’s untrustworthy Huawei. This bipartisan legislation makes clear that our concerns about Beijing are serious, and that future trade negotiations must account for our national security.”
The Network Security Trade Act would amend the 2015 Trade Promotion Authority, which is in effect until July 1, 2021, to include a negotiating objective related to the security of communications networks. Today, one of the largest manufacturers of 5G equipment and telecommunications infrastructure is Huawei Technologies, which is supported by the Chinese Communist Party. While the bill does not name specific state-owned companies, it would direct the executive branch to ensure that the equipment and technology that are used to create the global communications infrastructure are not compromised. It would achieve that goal by addressing barriers to the security of communications networks and supply chains and unfair trade practices of state-owned or state-controlled communications equipment suppliers in new trade agreements. Confronting these issues, which this legislation requires, is critical as the United States considers formal trade talks with the United Kingdom and other allies.
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