Manufacturers struggling to make long-term plans. Farmers facing retaliation from Chinese buyers. US households burdened with higher prices.
Republican senators are confronting the Trump administration with those worries and many more as they fret about the economic impact of the President’s sweeping tariff strategy that went into effect on Wednesday.
In a Senate hearing and interviews with reporters this week, Republican scepticism of President Donald Trump’s policies ran unusually high. While Republican lawmakers made sure to direct their concern at Trump’s aides and advisers — particularly US trade representative Jamieson Greer, who appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday — it still amounted to a rare Republican break from a President they have otherwise championed.
Lawmakers had reason to worry: the stock market has been in a volatile tumble for days and economists are warning that the plans could lead to a recession.
“Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?” Republican Senator Thom Tillis told Greer as he pressed for an answer on which Trump aide to hold accountable if there is an economic downturn.
Tillis’ frustration was aimed at the across-the-board tariff strategy that could potentially hamstring US manufacturers who are currently dependent on materials like aluminum and steel from China. His home state of North Carolina, where he is up for re-election next year, has attracted thousands of foreign firms.
In the afternoon, Tillis in a Senate floor speech said that the “President is right in challenging other nations who have for decades abused their relationship with the United States,” yet went on to question who in the White House was thinking through the long-term economic effects of the sweeping tariffs.