Press Releases

This morning the July jobs report showed that the U.S. labor market slowed markedly in the second quarter of 2025, with only 106,000 total jobs added, an average of just 35,000 jobs per month over the last three months. Most job growth during this period came in two sectors, health care and social assistance, which were the target of major funding cuts by Republicans and President Trump in the recently-enacted H.R. 1; without these sectors the U.S. economy would have lost jobs on balance during the second quarter.

Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), who serves as Senior House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee and is a member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, issued the following statement:

“Today’s brutal jobs report confirms that President Trump’s tariffs are a major drag on the U.S. economy. But as Trump’s tariffs slowly strangle the economy, he is announcing huge new tariffs that will squeeze it even harder.

“Those of us who opposed Trump’s trade wars warned from the beginning that they would raise prices for the American people, hurt relationships with our allies, and damage small businesses with self-inflicted chaos and uncertainty. Now Trump’s tariffs are causing inflation to rise, economic growth slowed in the first half of 2025, and the job market – a primary source of strength and stability through fluctuations in the post-pandemic economy – is weakening sharply. Everything we warned would happen is in fact happening.

“As Trump piles massive new tariffs on key trading partners with bogus justifications, for instance on Canada or Brazil, or no justification at all, as in the case of India, Switzerland, Taiwan, and others, the costs will once again be paid by the American people via higher prices. None of the promised benefits are materializing, we are not seeing a ‘golden age’ and we are actually losing manufacturing jobs. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is no strategy here, only a determination to bully other countries – no matter how much it harms America.

“Democrats have bills that would stop this madness, but not only are Republicans unwilling to break with Trump as he wrecks our economy, they just made the damage even worse by enacting the largest health care cut in history.”

Rep. Beyer serves on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, chairs the New Democrat Coalition’s Trade Task Force, and serves as Senior House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee. He is the sponsor of the Congressional Trade Authority Act, which would rein in presidential abuses of authorities under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, and the co-lead, with Rep. Suzan DelBene, of legislation to end abuses of International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariff authorities.