President Trump’s whipping tariff policy has spurred Democrats and encouraged bipartisan alert at Capitol Hill, where Republicans were arrested amid rage and Republicans were arrested amid deep opposition to tariffs and fears of criticizing Trump.
The president’s sudden announcement that he would suspend most of his mutual tariffs for just 90 days after he announced them, soothed immediate concerns among some GOP lawmakers.
But behind these statements was a deep, tense well among Republican lawmakers who were hearing concerns from their constituents and donors about the impact of Trump’s trade movements on financial markets and the economy. Some of them have begun signing measures in favour of Congress to end tariffs entirely and to prevent the president from imposing such taxes in the future.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Tom Tillis is just trying to understand whose throats chokes, put up with the platform and who appreciates the innovative approach they have succeeded in when they’re right, during a hearing with Trump’s top trading civil servant, Jamieson Greer.
On Wednesday, Trump pulled most of the tariffs back, but Tillis was still unsettled after he held a 10% tariff rate in most countries and announced additional penalties against China. He said the move is likely to “reduce some of the escalations,” but added that there is still a considerable amount of work to prevent another market meltdown.
“We need to get the deal before we remove the uncertainty,” he told reporters shortly after Trump announced the changes to his social media post.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Trump’s tariffs, said he hopes the shift is a sign that someone “speaks some kind of sense of policy and isn’t extreme.”
Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, was one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Trump’s tariffs. Credit…Kenny Holston/New York Times
“If we add a lot of tariffs, we’ll lose $6 trillion in the market,” Paul said Wednesday. “What do you guess if you remove tariffs? It’s bound. I hope there are lessons learned because tariffs are perceived by millions of people as bad for the economy.”
Paulo joined Democrats in a Cospons resolution to end Trump’s tariffs, including someone who passed the Senate last week to end Canadian taxes.
In the House, Republican leaders have rushed to stymie such measures and isolated themselves from having to vote on the issue at least until the fall. The manipulation is an implicit recognition that such a vote will result in an impossible political dilemma: reject tariffs, gain or accept Trump’s wrath, putting the wrath of their members at risk.
For now, many of them are rooting for Trump’s tariff suspension.
“Look, look at the ‘art of trading’,” Mike Johnson said in a statement praising the president’s strategy. “President Trump will create leverage, bring many countries to the table, bringing them to American workers, American manufacturers, American future!”
If that had been a plan for the rest of the day, Congressional Republicans were protected in the darkness. And despite the temporary reprieve, this week’s trade hearing at Capitol Hill shows that it shows some skepticism about the GOP ranks, which seemed unlikely to happen.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Sen. James Lankford, a Republican of Oklahoma, has previously opposed tariffs and voted in favor of giving Congress more power over tariffs during Trump’s first term.
“I’m grateful that everyone I’ve spoken to are actually trying to attack the trade deficit issue and curb trade barriers,” Lankford said. “They also want to get a timeline.”
A day later, Greer spoke with lawmakers and hours of senators as the market continued to plummet when Trump announced a 90-day tariff suspension.
Lankford said the shift would provide “risqué” help to businesses in the short term, but suggested uncertainty would return shortly after the initial bailout has disappeared.
“Obviously, three months from now, some of these questions are still there,” he said Wednesday.
Skepticism reflects a fundamental disconnect between Trump and many Republicans in Congress who have spent decades opposing the use of tariffs as a tool to promote free trade and promote effective trade relations.
During Trump’s first term, Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford voted in favor of giving Congress more tariffs.
“I love President Trump. I’m his strongest supporter in the Senate,” Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said last week on a podcast. “But there’s one thing to understand here: tariffs are taxes, primarily taxes on American consumers.”
A group of Republican senators vented tariff concerns in an interview about Sean Hannity’s program on Fox News Tuesday night. And some people do more than criticism.
Last week, Iowa Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley introduced the law with Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington. This will require the President to give Congress a 48-hour new tariff notice, requesting House and Senate approval within 60 days or automatically cancel. Half a dozen Republican senators signed it.
Even some Republican leaders have carefully adjusted their responses and made clear that they are concerned, postponing them to Trump.
Sen. John Tune, a Republican in South Dakota, and Sen. John Tune, a majority leader, has long admired trade deals that benefit farmers who benefit farmers in his hometown. “In the end, we don’t know what the economic impact will be. We hope that the President will succeed. And if he gains reciprocity from other countries around the world, this could all be temporary.”
As House Republicans are closing their move to force Trump to vote on tariffs, Congress is unlikely to make any serious moves to curb his trade policies.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said Congress should regain its trade powers from the administration, but it was unlikely to do so given Trump’s inevitable veto and the two-thirds of each chamber to override it.
“I really can’t do anything right now, so I want to give him the benefit of doubt,” Johnson said of the president. “I hope he will succeed. I’m not betting on him.”
