Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, takes Christina Ruffini through the trade fight with Canada, the limits of economic pressure on Iran, the legislation he has written to keep US money out of Venezuelan oil, and what the munitions drawdown does to deterrence against China and Russia. He closes on the disaster in Nepal, where he says his office has been contacted by families of missing Americans. This is one of four segments in the episode, each summarized separately; the news quiz that closes the programme is covered in the Stephen Moore summary.
👤 Guest: Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois
🎙️ Host: Christina Ruffini, Bloomberg This Weekend
👥 Also on: Bailey Lipschultz, Bloomberg This Weekend
📰 Published: 30 August 2026
🔴 YouTube | 🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Show notes | ⏱️ 45 min | ✅ Time saved: 35 min
Key Takeaways
He agrees with the president's own former economic adviser about Canada, and calls the tariffs a domestic tax
"These tariffs end up just being taxes on Americans at a time when we're already facing $4 gas and inflation that's percolating throughout the economy."
Illinois is exposed twice over, and he expects Congress to try to take trade authority back
"So 20% of our exports go to Canada." Retaliation would be "a double whammy for Illinoisans"
Economic pressure on Iran runs into the Strait of Hormuz, and the bill lands on American drivers
"Are they going to pay $5 gasoline because of economic D-Day? In which case, President Trump is basically levying economic D-Day on Americans."
The Venezuela oil arrangement will rebound on the United States and hand South America to China
"Americans are against colonization of any country, including Venezuela."
His NOVA Act would bar taxpayer money from Venezuelan oil, and he wants the Trump family's interest examined
He has no evidence of a family interest and said Congress should look, given the pattern elsewhere
The United States is not ready for a war with China, and Beijing can see it
"they are counting our magazine depth every day, the number of munitions we have, where our troops stationed, and they notice"
"By 2027, Xi Jinping has asked the People's Liberation Army to be ready to successfully invade Taiwan."
The next Russian move he fears is a deniable attack on a Baltic country
Sanctions are the right step and not enough: co-produce Patriots, and turn Starlink on
"But ultimately, it's up to Elon Musk."
The US response in Nepal is a fraction of what it once was, with Americans still missing
"Before the collapse of USAID, we provided tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars for similar disasters in the past."
Tariffs on Canada Are Taxes on Americans, and Illinois Sends a Fifth of Its Exports There
Ruffini opened by putting the previous guest to him: a former Trump economic adviser had just told the show this is not a great time to pick a fight with Canada. She asked whether he agreed, and whether any bipartisan effort exists to make that case to the president.
"I agree with him on that. I don't think it's ever a great time to pick a fight with Canada, one of our closest allies."
The cost lands at home: "These tariffs end up just being taxes on Americans at a time when we're already facing $4 gas and inflation that's percolating throughout the economy."
Illinois is a huge exporting state to Canada. "So 20% of our exports go to Canada." Counter-tariffs or retaliatory tariffs, he said, would be "a double whammy for Illinoisans"
"I think that in Congress, there's going to be a push to kind of reassert authority with regard to trade with Canada."
He expects the November elections to hinge partly on how big a chaos factor the Canada talks become, and made the partisan case that Democrats in charge of Congress would be a check on the administration
No Military Solution in Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz Is Tehran's Answer
Ruffini asked how he reads the war in Iran alongside Venezuela, and said the administration keeps picking directions to point its attention, with the renaming of lakes as one more distraction. He agreed with the framing.
"I think that at this point, the president and his advisors know there's no military solution available to what's happening with Iran."
The Iranians know it too, and "they know that they have tremendous economic leverage in terms of control of the Strait of Hormuz"
On Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's talk of declaring economic D-Day on Iran: what goes unsaid, he argued, is that Iran can make Americans pay the price"They're already, as I said, paying $4 gasoline. Are they going to pay $5 gasoline because of economic D-Day? In which case, President Trump is basically levying economic D-Day on Americans."
The Venezuela Oil Play Will Boomerang, and China Picks Up What Falls
On Venezuela he accepted the hosts' point that any production gain is distant rather than immediate, then made a separate objection: "Not to mention the fact that it's just wrong foreign policy. It's going to boomerang on us in different ways. Americans are against colonization of any country, including Venezuela."
Ruffini pressed the historical parallel herself. She noted that the administration is going after Cuba over properties and facilities the Cuban government nationalized decades ago, while apparently not seeing the same risk in Venezuela — that a future government, democratic or otherwise, could simply reclaim the oil fields American money had developed.
"Totally. And this is going to boomerang on us."
"Delcy Rodriguez, the current, I guess, acting president of Venezuela, is being viewed as a political tool of the United States." He expects tremendous backlash against her and her government if Venezuelans see the oil fields ceded to Americans
The strategic cost he cares about most: "we're going to be playing right into the hands of the Chinese who are gaining increasing leverage and influence in South America and throughout the Americas"It pushes countries into China's arms, he said, at a time when China's presence in the hemisphere should be treated as a concernThe same policy pushes away countries that might otherwise work with the United States on security and economic security
The NOVA Act Would Bar American Money From Venezuelan Oil
Asked whether the president even has the authority to do this, and whether an investigation or oversight would follow, he pointed to a bill he has already written.
"Yeah, I actually have legislation called the NOVA Act. It's basically No Occupation of Venezuela Act." It would mean American taxpayer dollars are not used for the colonization or exploitation of Venezuelan resources
He expects an increased push for measures like it if the policy goes further
The question he says is being thought but not said: "what is the Trump family getting out of this potential deal?" He tied it to a pattern of the family doing business with foreign governments in ways that have affected foreign policy
Ruffini asked directly whether he has evidence of that or whether it is something he thinks Congress should look into. "I think that's something that Congress needs to look into, given the pattern that we're seeing in other countries."
Not Ready for China, and Beijing Is Counting the Munitions
Ruffini set up the military question with the carrier rotation — the USS Abraham Lincoln finally getting a break, and the ship covering for it pulled out of the Indo-Pacific — and with her own experience of the pattern: she said she has been around for many pivots to Asia under administrations of both parties, each of which ended back in the Middle East or another theater. Is the country ready to go to war with China now?
"No, we're not."
His concern is the George Washington moving to the Middle East on top of a depletion of Patriot missiles, THAAD missiles, SM-3s and other munitions needed for combat, which weakens deterrence against Russia in Europe and China in the Indo-Pacific
"And I think they are counting our magazine depth every day, the number of munitions we have, where our troops stationed, and they notice, and that only causes them to consider more seriously potentially moving on Taiwan."
The deadline he works from: "By 2027, Xi Jinping has asked the People's Liberation Army to be ready to successfully invade Taiwan." That year, he said, is coming up very quickly and the window is dangerous
"And instead of increasing our deterrence with regard to China, we're doing the opposite right now. And we're sliding, in my view, toward conflict."
The CIA Director's Moscow Trip Carried Two Messages
Ruffini asked, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, whether he knew why the CIA director went to Moscow and whether members were told in advance.
"I wasn't alerted in advance."
Based in part on published reports, he read Director Ratcliffe as signaling two things. First, "the war in Ukraine is not going well for the Russians. As you know, they've had 1 million people killed or wounded, and they're not making any gains on the battlefield."
Second, a warning not to escalate the conflict, either in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe
The message he thinks lands anyway: Putin knows what is happening in Iran and that the war there has depleted American munition stocks. "He's counting our munitions. He thinks that we are weakened."
What He Fears Next Is a Deniable Attack on a Baltic Country
Asked about reports that Putin is weighing a strike on a NATO member, he said he is very concerned, and that Putin knows Ukraine is still in the fight because of what NATO is doing to help it.
"And so I'm concerned that he is going to potentially stage an attack on or at least a false flag attack or a misattributable attack or non-attributable attack on one of the Baltic countries."
He does not think it would work: "But he should also know that those countries on the eastern flank will vigorously defend themselves. And I believe that they will have the full backing of their NATO allies as well."
"And he should not go down that path. It's a very dangerous one, to say the least."
Sanctions Were Right and Are Not Enough: Co-Produce Patriots, and Turn Starlink On
On the Russia sanctions bill that passed, he said it will take a little while but is the right thing to do, and that he is glad it passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis. Then he listed what he wants next.
Help the Ukrainians with air defenses, which he said means two things
Co-production, not just deliveries: "I think we have to engage in co-production of some of these vital air defenses, including Patriot missiles, if not in Ukraine directly, then in nearby NATO countries."
"And then secondly, we need to turn Starlink on." He called it an issue that has been discussed ad nauseam"But ultimately, it's up to Elon Musk." He wants the president and the rest of the administration to apply maximum pressure to make it happen"That will be a game changer for the Ukrainians."
Nepal: Almost 100 Americans Missing, and an Aid Response Smaller Than It Once Would Have Been
Ruffini closed on the disaster in Nepal and the size of the American response, asking whether it matches what the United States used to do before USAID was dismantled. She gave the figures herself: "Initially, it was a tranche of about $500,000. This morning, that's been expanded to $3 million."
"No. Before the collapse of USAID, we provided tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars for similar disasters in the past."
He called it a calamity of enormous magnitude, and said his office has been contacted directly by families of American citizens who were on pilgrimage in the region at the time of the glacial collapse
"But you should know that almost 100 Americans are missing right now in that region." He has asked the State Department to do more on search and rescue, and urged the Nepali government to invite specific assistance from partner countries
What he says is actually needed: additional search and rescue teams, money so the Nepalese can procure what the displaced require, and technology to locate missing people in very difficult terrainTunnels at hydroelectric plants and power stations were not destroyed but had their entrances covered with mud. "And it requires specialized tunneling equipment to get to the people inside those tunnels, also to get them the oxygen and provisions that they need."
Ruffini said the show's reporter on the ground had told them the same thing: if anyone is still alive, it would be those workers in the tunnels near the border region
Krishnamoorthi's bottom line is that each of these fights costs more than it collects — tariffs taxed at home, economic pressure on Iran paid at the pump, an oil arrangement in Venezuela that pushes the hemisphere toward China — and that the munitions drawn down for the war in Iran are being counted in Moscow and Beijing.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Starlink (He wants it turned on for Ukraine and called that a game changer; the decision, he said, rests with Elon Musk)
Patriot missiles, THAAD and SM-3 interceptors (The munitions he says have been depleted by the war in Iran; he wants Patriots co-produced in Ukraine or nearby NATO countries)
USAID (Its collapse is the reason he gives for an aid response to Nepal far smaller than past disasters drew)
Books & Resources Mentioned
The NOVA Act, or No Occupation of Venezuela Act (His own bill, which would bar American taxpayer dollars from the colonization or exploitation of Venezuelan resources)
Get the latest market chatter as it happens: