Republicans are anxious about President Trump’s effort to impose new tariffs on China, but one of his staunchest political foes continues to defend him on it.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., typically rails against Trump in his daily Senate floor opening remarks. But tariffs are a different story.
“I think if we’re really strong and tough against China and the president takes my advice and gets all the other countries involved, we will come to a very good solution very quickly,” Schumer said Tuesday. “I hope he doesn’t back out and come up with a weak solution, because China is going to continue to hurt us over and over again.”
Schumer has become one of the staunchest defenders of Trump’s decision this week to impose 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products. In retaliation, China put tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods.
It’s an odd alliance, considering Schumer is one of Trump’s most vocal opponents on just about every other issue and jabs at the president in most of his speeches and press conferences.
Few others are as enthusiastic about the tariffs, which will lead to higher consumer prices and strain U.S. businesses that rely on the global supply chain. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed either opposition to the tariffs or nervousness about how long they could last.
But not Schumer, who has urged Trump to keep up the fight with China.
Schumer has long called for action against China over the country’s unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft, which have cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
He urged the president to “hang tough on China” in a tweet last week, and maintained his support even in the face of a looming escalation in the fight.
Trump is now weighing a new round of tariffs amid stalled talks with China.
A reporter asked Schumer why he believed Trump is not acknowledging American consumers pay higher prices due to the tariffs, but Schumer didn’t bite at the softball question.
“I don’t know why that is, but as I said, we got to do something about China or America will not be a strong economic power 10 or 15 years from now,” Schumer told the reporter.
Schumer points out he’s not in favor of all tariffs and did not side with Trump’s decision to impose them on other countries. He recently called for an end to the aluminum tariffs imposed on Canada, for instance.
“I don’t fully agree with what the president has done because he has fought this against too many different countries,” said Schumer. “But going tough on China something I have advocated for decades.”
Republicans are largely standing by Trump on the tariffs but are hardly enthusiastic. They are eager for a deal to be reached with China.
“I think there is a lot of concern,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “As an instrument to get them to the table and to come up with a fair trade agreement I think everybody can accept that. But if this goes on for a long time everybody realizes it’s playing with a live hand grenade.”
