Republicans’ top trade lawmaker in the House outlined his disagreement with Donald Trump on trade policy Friday, pledging that Republicans will continue to back free trade even if Trump wins the presidency.
“I know we disagree with Mr. Trump on this area,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said Friday in an interview to be aired on C-Span Sunday. “I’m hopeful that we can convince him that making our tax code more pro-growth will make America stronger, but to do that it’s not enough to simply buy American, we need to sell American all throughout the world.”
Brady, whose committee has oversight over trade relations, has been a staunch supporter of free trade and of trade deals such as the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Trump, however, has campaigned hard against such trade deals as the presumptive Republican nominee, promising to renegotiate them and threatening tariffs on trade partners.
Trump has warned that the 12-nation Pacific trade deal would be “a continuing rape of our country” and dedicated a speech in New Hampshire last week to blaming trade deals for job losses and the weakness of the U.S. economy.
Brady, who worked hard to build support for the TPP in the House, had previously responded to Trump’s speech indirectly, without mentioning him by name.
On Friday, the Texas lawmaker explained that “I wanted to be clear that Republicans will continue to be a champion for expanding economic freedom to trade. It is at the heart of our free-enterprise system.”
Other top Republicans have sought to downplay differences within the party over trade. House Speaker Paul Ryan, for instance, who led the Republican effort to work toward the Pacific trade deal as Ways and Means chairman last year, has deflected questions about where he disagrees with Trump on trade. Instead, he has suggested that he agrees with Trump in that they both want better terms in trade deals.
Brady has said that he backs Trump and that he will go to the Republican National Convention this month.
