Topline
Some high-ranking Republicans openly expressed their fears of economic fallout surrounding President Donald Trump’s new sweeping tariff policy unveiled Wednesday—breaking with the president after the package sent stocks nosediving and threatened to drive up prices for a long list of consumer goods.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order after delivering remarks on reciprocal tariffs … More
AFP via Getty ImagesKey Facts
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released a statement Thursday rebuking tariffs generally, writing on X, “with so much at stake globally, the last thing we need is to pick fights with the very friends with whom we should be working with to protect against China’s predatory and unfair trade practices.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-N.D., told reporters, “obviously you want to make sure you’re not doing harm to the economy,” and said he was taking a “wait and see” approach to the announcement, offering a tempered defense of Trump’s thinking: “the concept behind it was reciprocity, and reciprocal tariffs are something that I think most people think make sense.”
Thune, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., all suggested Wednesday’s rates weren’t final, Punchbowl reported, with Moran saying he expected “a more modest approach in the amounts” and Capito telling the outlet “it’s pretty rough right now,” but “the concept behind the tariffs is something I support.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, along with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced legislation Thursday that would require Trump to notify Congress before enacting new tariffs and mandate congressional approval of the new policy within 60 days of it being announced, or it would expire.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., indicated he and other Republicans would back Grassley’s bill, telling reporters Thursday, “I think there’s something to be said for having congressional review,” after expressing concerns in an interview with CNN on Wednesday about how the tariffs could impact farmers, whom he said are “one crop away from bankruptcy.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., also told CNN, “in the long run, we’re all dead. Short run matters too. Nobody knows what the impact of these tariffs is going to be on the economy.”
What To Watch For
Four Republican senators—including McConnell—voted alongside all Democrats on Wednesday to revoke new tariffs on Canada. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Politico on Thursday he will introduce a new “motion of disapproval” aimed at the 10% baseline tariffs Trump imposed Wednesday on U.S. trading partners. Kaine, who sponsored the Senate bill targeting the tariffs against Canada, said he could raise the motion as soon as Thursday. Any bill passed by the Senate that runs counter to the White House narrative has slim odds of passing the House, where House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is typically in lock-step with Trump, would be unlikely to introduce them.
Key Background
Trump announced individual tariffs against U.S. trading partners—with some exceeding 50%—in a highly anticipated address Wednesday, which he coined “Liberation Day,” prompting a stock market spiral and new recession fears. The rates include an additional 34% tax on Chinese imports to the U.S. on top of the 20% already charged, a 46% tax for Vietnam, 32% for Taiwan and 24% for Japan. Stocks sank the morning after the announcement, with the Down Jones Industrial Average falling 3.8%, the S&P 500 down 4.4% and the Nasdaq dipping 5.7%. JPMorgan Chase chief economist Michael Feroli warned the policies “take the economy perilously close to slipping into recession.” Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on his tariffs Thursday, writing on Truth Social that the U.S. “WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE” as a result.
Further Reading
Trump’s Tariffs Tip Economy ‘Perilously Close’ To A Recession, Largest U.S. Bank Warns (Forbes)
Trump Doubles Down On Tariffs Amid Economic Chaos: ‘The Patient Lived, And Is Healing’ (Forbes)
Here’s What Will Cost More After Trump’s Tariffs: Coffee, Cars, More (Forbes)
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