♪ > Welcome to This Week In South Carolina I'm Gavin Jackson.

This week I speak with Rock Hill Republican Representative Brandon Guffey about keeping children safe online, and his tragic personal story that has led to the arraignment of a Nigerian man who is being held responsible for sextorting Guffey's son, which led to his death.

I also speak with University of South Carolina economics professor Doctor Will Hauk on South Carolina, global trade and how tariffs play a role.

But first, here's a brief recap of state political news from the week.

The week started with a groundbreaking for a $200 million interchange near the massive Scout Motors plant, under construction in Blythewood.

Governor Henry McMaster said he'd sign a bill allowing for direct sales of electric vehicles like Scout, which is currently prohibited.

> I think it's a good idea and I know the General Assembly is interested.

Of course Scout is interested.

There are a lot of businesses that operate under direct sales already.

Things are moving faster and faster, and we want to be sure that the people of our state are able to to get what they need, to get it quickly, conveniently as possible.

And the idea of all that tax money coming into South Carolina, from sales here, to help our schools, roads, bridges and those kind of things are a very happy idea.

Gavin> On Tuesday, the State Senate gave final approval primarily along party lines, to its K-12 School Voucher Bill that would use dwindling lottery funds for private school tuition.

> Absolutely our general fund is going to be impacted by this legislation.

It is undoubtable that it is going to.

> And, Senator, what I'm seeing by what I've gotten from, from staff...

It's going to be upwards of about $110 million in 26, 27.

Sen. Ott> And again, again Senator, that's based off of what we're sending to the House.

I think it's going to be a lot worse than that.

Gavin> On Wednesday in Washington, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would cut funding to schools and institutions of higher education, if they allowed transgender athletes to play in women's sports.

The event was attended by Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette and South Carolina Congresswomen Sheri Biggs and Nancy Mace.

Senator Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Budget Committee, got the green light to begin work next week on a defense and border security budget reconciliation bill.

> Democrats are not ever going to give us the money we need to do what President Trump wants on the border and deportation.

This is a once, in a lifetime opportunity for Republicans and Republicans only to give President Trump the money he needs to execute his immigration plan.

Gavin> And in Columbia on Thursday, House leadership announced bills that mimic the federal so-called "Department of Government Efficiency and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" efforts.

> Oversight Committee goes through and it audits agencies, it looks at efficiency.

But these are legislators bringing this through.

They're not dissecting every section of the budget, going and seeing where the money is spent.

And I think the beauty of a DOGE is you bring in people from outside government and having them to take a look at what's going on in agencies, and are there efficiencies to be had and are there savings to be had?

And that is what you need.

You need an outsider approach, because that's a different analysis than an insider approach from legislators.

And that's what we're looking to build upon.

> Joining me now is Rock Hill Representative Brandon Guffey to discuss his legislative efforts to keep children safe online.

Representative, thanks for joining us.

Rep. Guffey> Thank you for having me on.

Gavin> So I know this is a very personal matter for you, and I'm going to ask you to just kind of recount a little bit about that story.

But you were elected back in 2022, the same year your family lost your son Gavin, to sextortion.

The following year, both the House and the Senate unanimously passed your bill dealing with this horrible crime, sextortion.

Tell us about your late son and this important law that got passed.

> So Gavin was my oldest son at the time, 17 years of age.

And he was contacted by a stranger online around midnight on July 27th.

And by 1:40 a.m., he had taken his life.

You know, I didn't know exactly why.

And as we started going through the investigation, we found out that he was, a victim of a crime called "sextortion."

I had just won my Primary race.

I didn't really want to continue in politics, because a life shattering event like that shows you what's really important.

And my wife said "Absolutely not.

You're going to go down there.

You're one of the few people that can make a difference and, you know, make that your focus."

And so that's what I did.

Came into the House and, immediately started trying to make a difference to save the next "Gavin" from being in that situation.

Gavin> And tell us about that law that got passed in 2023.

I mean, I remember seeing, you know, everyone pretty much in the House Chamber being up there with you when that law made it through, when the bill made it through the House Chamber, then over to the Senate then it was eventually passed.

But what does it do and how does it help folks?

Rep. Guffey> So "Gavin's Law," which its now named, I didn't originally write it to be named "Gavin's Law."

But it, it criminalizes the crime of sextortion, so the threatening of shared images for gain.

So you don't actually have to, you don't actually have to share images.

It is the threat of sharing the images.

It separates between a at risk adult and children as one side, versus adult to adult.

But there's also different levels for whether it's a first, second, third offense.

But if great bodily harm or death occurs, it adds on an additional 15 years as well.

The most important part of the bill, that I have seen is the educational component.

And the education, we mandated that in South Carolina that every school teach what Gavin's Law is, and that is raising awareness.

But Gavin's Law itself, while there are laws on a federal level that can protect, Gavin's Law itself, gave local law enforcement something that they could go across jurisdictions to charge people with felonies that are attacking our citizens.

Gavin> So sadly came about, but a very important law, of course.

But when we talk about that, we saw last week, federal and state law enforcement announced the extradition of a Nigerian man who is the alleged suspect in the crime that resulted in your son's death.

This was a long process.

Tell us about this and how law enforcement made this arrest and getting him back to the United States, which is, kind of rare in these situations.

Rep. Guffey> Yeah, and it took a collaborative group effort in order to do so.

I often say it started at my home the night that everything happened with Gavin.

In South Carolina, if there is a death of a minor SLED is already called out.

So South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was there, York County Sheriff's Department was there, and they picked up on it being an extortion case prior to me knowing.

And while we were going through the process, my 16 year old son began to get messages and my 14 year old cousin was already being extorted and his mom exposed it.

So the local law enforcement and SLED were able to get involved and start taking over those conversations.

Along the line, Homeland Security and FBI got involved as well, and they began to trace it.

I remember sitting with what is currently our York County sheriff, but he was not a sheriff at that time.

A good friend of mine who had lost a son as well the year prior, and he was one of those men that I leaned on.

And I told him, you know, we'll hunt until the end of the earth to find out who's responsible for this.

And that's what the team did.

But it wasn't just law enforcement.

You also have to take in the U.S. Attorney's Office.

And U.S. Attorney's Office worked diligently with the Nigerian government, not only on the arrest, but also in the extradition process.

And there have been a couple other cases involving sextortion where the person was extradited.

However, the penalties weren't as steep as what they are here.

And I think that delayed the case a little bit.

But I'm thankful for the U.S. Attorney's Office on not giving up and continuing to pursue that.

Gavin> Yeah, because there are multiple charges for this person and then including you know, up to life in prison because the charge of child exploitation resulting in death alone carries a mandatory 30 year sentence.

So a lot at play here.

Rep. Guffey> Up to life in prison.

Gavin> And what were your thoughts when that word came out, that this person would be coming back to America, to face justice?

I mean, do you recall that?

Rep. Guffey> Happy on hearing it.

Angry whenever I saw it.

You know, seeing the person that is responsible for your child's death for the first time, that anger I can't explain.

But you know what?

Throughout this process, one thing that I've learned is to own my emotions and to quit acting perfect.

To quit... acting like we as adults have everything figured out.

And just own your emotions and live in the moment.

And I would lie if I just said "this was a glorious day."

It was a glorious accomplishment and I get a lot of credit, but it wasn't me.

The only thing I could do was stay out of law enforcement's way and continue being a vocal voice, trying to save the next "Gavin."

> And when you talk about that, I mean, you hear from folks all the time, what is, what's the current situation like your day to day, maybe your monthly when you talk to folks, what are you hearing?

Is it seemingly never ending?

> It really is never ending.

I dealt with a teenager in South Carolina last night on a sextortion case.

I deal with one to two really, on a daily basis.

In addition to every parent within the state that has lost a child, that is advocating for something.

I'm the first person they go to, and you learn a lot of empathy once you realize what is important in life.

But there's only so much that you can carry at the same time.

So it can be overwhelming at times.

And my strength comes from trying to stay focused.

Gavin> And when you talk about, you know, getting strength from that and preventing the next incident or catastrophe.

What have you maybe seen when it comes to law enforcement and maybe awareness, do we know if there's any hard numbers you can point to in terms of, convictions, arrests, things like that?

Rep. Guffey> Conviction and arrest, I can't give you that number, but one of the shocking statistics...

I began to work with National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, and one of the statistics as I'm traveling around talking to teens about mental health that I share, was in 2021, it was only a couple hundred cases of exploitation reported to NCMEC.

And just last year it was over 3 million.

Gavin> So we're breaking through and getting that word out there and people are coming forward.

Rep. Guffey> But those are reporting.

And prior to Gavin, you know, I believe that there wasn't those resources and no one was speaking up because of the shame.

You know, my wife and I even had that conversation.

Do we want people looking at our son, as doing something that, he was willing to lose his life to hide?

And do we really want to expose that?

And there are many parents that I deal with that have lost children that haven't come forward.

But being able to come forward and those teens that are brave enough to go to law enforcement, it makes such a difference because you can prevent the next person from being in that situation.

Gavin> And another way you're trying to prevent that is you have an ongoing lawsuit with Meta, Instagram's parent company, for wrongful death, gross negligence and other claims.

Are there any updates on that, are you seeing anything move in the right direction when it comes to what they're trying to do with parental controls at least?

Rep. Guffey> No.

I equate what Meta is doing as...

I say, it's kind of like whenever your dog, you know, uses the bathroom on the porch instead of inside the house and you're kind of okay with it, but it's not exactly what you wanted.

I believe that they are more focused on profit over protecting children.

And whistleblowers have confirmed that over and over.

And I'll use the perfect example in my opinion.

Meta, in August of 2024, pulled down 63,000 sextortion accounts in one day, off just Instagram and just in Lagos, Nigeria.

So that tells me either "A" you held all of these extortion accounts until you could pull them down on one day for a PR stunt, and how many children were harmed during that process?

Or "B" you already have the technology to stop this, and you were able to pull down that many at one time.

Either way, you're not a good actor and you're not interested in protecting children.

Gavin> That's still going forward at this time.

Rep. Guffey> Yes.

Gavin> And just wrapping up here, you have 19 bills filed so far this session, many of them dealing with child exploitation.

We've seen some similar bills moving in the Senate Committees, this past week.

But what more do you want to see done?

What are you trying to get accomplished this year, next year, as part of the session?

Rep. Guffey> I think the most important thing would be the social media design Bill.

Which treats the, instead of social media being a service it is treated as a product.

So therefore you have to have consumer protection laws put in place.

I think that is one big step.

That or default to safety with devices, whether that's through the App Store or through the devices.

I believe that if we're handing a child a phone, you've got all these parental controls that you rave about make them default on a child's phone.

And to me, that's a simple fix.

But yet they claim that violates the First Amendment.

We're seeing more money fight against anything than actually making changes.

Gavin> And to that end, what's maybe your advice to folks, to people that are going through this or want to prevent family members or themselves from going through this?

What are the things you tell people to do, to be on the lookout for?

Rep. Guffey> The number one thing I think that parents can do, there is a great interactive video seven minutes long.

On noescaperoom.org think it's dot org.

That will teach you how simple this is.

But have the conversation with your kid, and the parents don't... You can sit there and say don't send nudes.

But make sure that they know that if they do make a mistake, you're there for them.

And then for the teens that are going through this, I stress the message "tomorrow needs you."

And you've got to realize that the mistakes that we make in life do not define who we are, but they help us become the people that we will become.

And that is the biggest...

I think our country has lost grace and we have forgotten how to lift each other up, instead of kicking each other while we're down.

Gavin> Give everyone some space, some grace and some understanding here, and that goes a long way.

Rep. Guffey> And understand what...

I tell people, it took me 30 years to become a Christian because I thought everyone was perfect or a hypocrite.

And it wasn't until I learned that we all fall short that I was able to move forward.

And it seems sometimes, whether it's politics, whether it's life, we just simply forget that.

And we expect people to be perfect.

So not only have I messed up, I will continue to mess up, but I'll always strive to be a better man tomorrow than I am today.

Gavin> Some good advice there from Representative Brandon Guffey.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Rep. Guffey> Thank you.

> Joining me now is University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business economics professor, Dr. William Hauk.

Dr. Hauk, welcome back.

> Thank you for having me.

Gavin> So it's been somewhat of a turbulent, confusing, now steady few days when it comes to the global economy.

We're talking about tariff threats to our two biggest trading partners and a 10% tariff on one of our biggest partners, China.

That came from President Donald Trump earlier this week.

We're taping this Thursday morning.

So anything can change between now and this airing.

But kind of catch us up on what happened here and what the state of play looks like right now.

> Yeah.

So... going back to last weekend, or even when he was a candidate, President Trump had, threatened a lot of the U.S.'s trading partners with tariffs.

He's been very, concerned about, trade deficits with the number of countries going back a while.

And then more recently, he brought up, fentanyl, which is coming across borders and, you know, causing problems in the United States.

And so, what happened last weekend, is that he said that he was going to impose 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on imports from China.

And, you know, really kind of, on Monday announced that he was going to go ahead with that.

But there was a lot of pushback.

And, "I had phone calls with the leaders of Canada and Mexico."

So those now seem to be on hold.

The China tariffs, are still in place, though.

And, really and with Canada and Mexico, it's been delayed for a month.

So we don't know exactly how that's ultimately going to pan out.

Gavin> Yeah, and I know that Canada and Mexico made some security concessions to postpone these tariffs like you're talking about.

We're talking about more security on their borders.

Even though a lot of those decisions had previously been announced, and I guess that maybe they were reiterated with some more, some more benefits there too.

But it'll be interesting to see what happens during this cooling off period, this, you know, 30 day postponement.

Do you think we're going to be having another stare down in a couple more weeks when it comes to this?

Dr. Hauk> That's a very good question.

And I think it's possible that, you know, President Trump has been very skeptical of the benefits of international trade.

This is one fairly constant thing that's been in his policy.

So, you know, last week he was very concerned about fentanyl, but then, you know, it could be trade deficits.

It could be something else.

I don't know if we're going to go back to 25% tariffs in a month, but I would not be surprised if, there's you know, other, issues that come up, when this month is over.

Gavin> And when we look at the, the Chinese tariffs too, you talk about that 10% well China's already announced retaliatory tariffs to the tune of 15% on American coal and liquefied natural gas, and 10% tariffs on crude oil, farm equipment and certain other vehicles.

So, those are, those counter tariffs are set to take effect on February 10th.

But when we talk about this and we're talking about perhaps negotiating tactics here, isn't this a lot to ask for when you have the, you know, the global economy, essentially the American economy in the balance?

Dr. Hauk> Yeah.

So I think, really a big concern is even if, the President doesn't go forward with these tariffs, going back to 25% on Canada and Mexico, some of the uncertainty that has been caused by, these policy shifts really, can cause, harm on their own.

So I think, you know, we're, if you're a firm who wants to invest in, say, South Carolina, really anywhere else in the United States, you really want to know, are your supply chains going to be predictable and steady?

And, especially in things like the auto industry and the airline industry, which are so huge in this state?

Global supply chains that have crossed international boundaries are a big part of that.

And yeah, the uncertainty can really cause damage on their own.

Gavin> Yeah.

Manufactured, exported products from South Carolina accounted for $36.4 billion in 2023.

About $20 billion of that was transportation equipment like you're talking about.

And our biggest markets are Germany, followed by Canada, China, and Mexico.

So a lot of the players that are involved right now.

So, I mean, when we talk about that, we talk about autos and we talk about planes and parts.

What do you think when it comes to a lot of those suppliers and manufacturers who have located maybe in Mexico?

So we're going back and forth with Mexico.

And then you look at the, the USMCA agreement, which is NAFTA 2.0, and how that might jeopardize some things, especially when it's up for renewal in a few years.

Dr. Hauk> Yeah.

I think, you know, on the policy end of it, that if, the USMCA agreement doesn't prevent things like this, well, there's going to be a lot less willingness to go forward and sort of renew that agreement.

When it comes up for renegotiation, I think in 2026, if I'm not mistaken.

So, yeah, I mean, that's a big concern on its own.

But yeah, I think, you know, you see, especially in the auto industry and in the airline industry, that ever since the original NAFTA agreement was signed back in 1992, that you see, the firms really kind of building out supply chains that cross the U.S., Canada, and Mexico border a whole lot.

And this really throws a big monkey wrench in all of that.

> And when we talk about this, with this uncertainty, does anyone ever really win in a trade war?

It seems like, you know, if it really gets full blown and people are talking about, you know, escalating and retaliating, I mean, are there ever any winners in these situations?

> I would tend to say not.

I mean, I think both sides really get hurt.

I would say probably from the perspective of the administration, they feel like they have leverage because Canada and Mexico, to a lesser extent, China, need trade with the United States a little bit more than we need trade with them.

But so they say it gives them some leverage.

But really, in the end, we're all getting hurt by it.

Gavin> And what have you deduced?

What have you seen when it comes to research and in terms of how it affects the average consumer?

I mean, I feel like a lot of this conversation about tariffs was to help deal with rising prices and inflation.

And at the same time, these tariffs can do the same thing, including, you know, temporary inflation and increase prices.

Dr. Hauk> Yeah.

So, really at the end of the day, what tariffs do is they raise the price of imported goods into the country.

So, consumer goods like, say, you know, a lot of electronic goods that we import from China and other, various manufactured goods.

A lot of that tariff price is going to get passed along to the end consumer.

And I think, you know, especially with the growth of global supply chains, it's not just, consumers who get hurt, by these tariffs that, you know, any, manufacturing plant here in the state that's importing, intermediate goods from Canada, Mexico, China, they can all be hurt by that as well.

So, you know, that can cause slowdowns in manufacturing, which can lead to job losses or reduced salaries.

So it's not just the end consumer who gets hurt its some of the producers in the state that could get hurt as well.

Gavin> The Peterson Institute for International Economics, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization estimate that those tariffs, if they were to go into effect, would cost about $1,200 a year for the average family.

I mean, that's pretty significant when we're talking about, you know, yes, we have a good economy, but everyone's worried about prices and they're already high.

And inflation still stubborn.

I mean, it's it'd be kind of hard to absorb these costs.

Dr. Hauk> Yeah.

And I think, you know, the good news for now is I think that $1,200 number assumed all of the tariffs that, President Trump talked about going into effect.

You take out the Canada and Mexico tariffs, the number goes down substantially.

But again, you know, we can't say that we're completely "out of the woods" with that either.

So yeah.

I mean, I think, you know, $1,200 or so for the average American household that that's a big hit to your pocketbook.

Gavin> And, we have a few minutes left here Dr. Hauk, I just wanna ask you about, you know, that last trade war we had with China because some of those tariffs did stick.

We did see some changes, you know, and China shifted some of their trade like corn and, and pork to South American countries.

And I think some of that's come back.

But I mean, there are ramifications here.

People can go elsewhere.

There's you know, we're not the only game in town.

So do you feel like that could happen again here?

Dr. Hauk> Yeah.

I think, you know, if, this continues, that is something we might be worried about in the long term that, you know, with the first trade war during, the first Trump administration with China that really, farmers got hurt because China stopped importing a lot of U.S. agricultural goods, and required, you know, substantial bailouts from the federal government to make up for that.

Do we see that in other industries as well?

Well, I think, you know, if people start seeing the U.S. as an unreliable trading partner over time you could see countries, you know, shift their sourcing of, you know, where they're buying goods and services.

Sometimes that's easy, sometimes it's harder.

But I think, you know, the longer it goes on, the more countries will try to do that.

Gavin> And the European Union, we haven't talked about them yet, but it seems like they might be the next target.

That happened with aluminum and steel back in the first Trump administration.

Dr. Hauk> Yeah.

I think, you know, that may be the next, next front, if you like, in this trade war that, President Trump has talked about, trade with the European Union as well is something he's concerned about.

So, yeah, I mean, you see that, really, the thing you would worry about is that, if enough countries end up seeing the U.S. as not being a, partner in international trade, that they start forming alternative trade blocs that the U.S. gets left out of.

And that would be bad for certainly the U.S. economy, and really, I think in the long run for the world economy.

Gavin> So a bit of a high stakes gamble there.

Dr. Hauk> Yeah.

Indeed.

Indeed.

Gavin> Well that's Dr. William Hauk, economics professor at the USC Darla Moore School of Business.

Thank you as always.

And that's it for us this week for South Carolina ETV I'm Gavin Jackson, be well South Carolina.

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