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Hutchinson: Arkansas ‘Ready to Go’ on ACA Repeal But Concerned About Trade Tax

2 min read

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, in Washington this week to attend the Donald Trump inauguration, appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to talk about the appeal of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act and the incoming Trump administration’s trade plans.

Yesterday, Hutchinson met with congressional leaders to talk Medicaid and Obamacare repeal. Bloomberg reports today that some Republican governors — even those eager for repeal — are telling their congressional delegation that doing so without a replacement “would ravage budgets and swamp hospitals with the uninsured.”

Hutchinson says Arkansas, which took Medicaid expansion dollars under the reform program, is ready. “Congress should repeal the ACA and return the power of regulating insurance to the states,” Hutchinson wrote in a letter to the House majority leader, according to Bloomberg.

He echoed those comments on CNBC today, and said Arkansas is ready to move quickly — as quickly as 90 days — into a new federal partnership for health insurance.

“We ought to have a federal partnership to make sure there is a smooth transition into a system that assures care [but] at the same time is affordable and gives the states the flexibility as needed,” he said.

But another part of the Trump agenda concerns the governor: trade. The Trump administration has floated the idea of raising taxes on imports as they push for fair trade. Hutchinson said that could pose problems for agriculture and retail — two industries near and dear to Arkansas.

“I understand the need to rebuild manufacturing in the United States, to have a tougher trade policy, but we cannot jeopardize our place in the global marketplace,” the Arkansas governor told “Squawk Box.”

Not only would an effective tariff raise costs on goods coming into the country, but those costs would trickle down to consumers, who would see prices rise on the shelves of big retailers like Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, which import most of their products, Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said he is also concerned about the backlash it would invite from the United States’ global trading partners.

“In a state like Arkansas, not only do we have Wal-Mart, … but also we have agriculture, and if you have other countries retaliating against the United States, it’s going to cost us in our agricultural exports, and that retaliation is something we’d be very concerned about,” he said.

You can see Hutchinson’s comments on health care and trade in the clip below:

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