(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says the United States will benefit from tariffs on imported steel and aluminum imposed by the Trump Administration. Feenstra says the president’s move is an attempt to spur the production of more American-made products. “The great thing is, Trump ran on this, and I agree with it–America first,” said Feenstra. “We’re buying all this stuff from our foreign adversaries like China and other countries. You know, we’ve got to make it right here, right in the U-S, U-S made,” Feenstra says. The Republican from Hull says the president is using tariffs as a bargaining chip to get better trade deals and increased border security.

“We’ve seen this with other tariffs,” he said. “The Mexico tariffs, the Canadian tariffs–he used them as leverage. What did we get out of them? We got 10-thousand border patrol agents from Mexico to protect our border on the other side,” he says.” We’ve got Canada that created 10-thousand border agents to make sure fentanyl wasn’t coming through Canada. So, often these tariffs can be used as leverage to get things done. And, I applaud Trump for what he’s doing.”

Published reports indicate the aforementioned border agents were actually provided under previous agreements reached under then-President Joe Biden. Feenstra adds any short-term pain from tariffs experienced by Americans should be offset by tax relief. Feenstra also calls for new trade markets with countries such as India, Thailand, Japan and the African nations.