WASHINGTON — Sen. Pete Ricketts is backing up the president’s trade tactics and praising the Senate’s actions during the first 100 days of the new administration.

In an exclusive interview with News Channel Nebraska in Washington, Ricketts said he believes President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs and his imposition of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports will help “level the playing field” for the US. 

“It does mean there’s going to be a little bit of uncertainty as we get these trade deals negotiated, but in the long run, this is going to be good for America.”

Tariffs on other countries besides China are currently on a 90-day pause. Ricketts said he is in regular communication with the White House about the president’s strategy.

“Administration officials and cabinet secretaries have been very accessible  as we’ve gone through this process. I’ve had a conversation with a number of folks at high levels to talk about the tariffs and how this is going to impact Nebraska companies.”

Ricketts cited specific examples of trade practices by other countries that hurt Nebraska ag producers, including strict biosecurity regulations in Australia, tariffs on beef in Southeast Asian countries and Europe’s refusal to accept biotech corn.

“These were the sorts of things that we have to get fixed with trade agreements and that’s what the president is attempting to do.”

Ricketts stressed that he is working with other Republican senators to deliver on Trump’s campaign promises. That includes his efforts within the budget committee to advance the budget reconciliation bill.

“We’re also working to shore up defense and unleash American energy.”

Since the start of the year, Ricketts has been busy working on his own bills. He introduced both the Social Security Check Tax Cut Act and Tax Cuts for Veterans Act. The first bill would phase out federal taxes on Social Security benefits. The second would eliminate the federal tax on military retirement benefits.

With the social security bill, the cuts would be phased in at 10% the first year and 20% the second year.

“We’re still waiting to get the scoring back on that and then we’ll know how much we have to be able to offset to be able to make it fit in the budget. But this is something that President Trump has said is a priority for him, so it’s really great timing to be able to introduce this right now because the president wants to make this a part of his overall tax package.”