Senate Republicans were highly critical of President Trump Thursday after he blindsided them with his plan to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum products and urged him to reconsider his plan.
The move was met with near-universal surprise from GOP lawmakers who were taken aback by the suddenness of the White House’s decision. Most GOP senators view the move as a tax hike on American families and expect it to specifically harm agriculture.
“It kind of came as a surprise to most of us,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the third-ranking Senate Republican. “There is no standard operating practice with this administration. Every day is a new adventure for us.”
“There’s always retaliation, and typically a lot of these countries single out agriculture when they do that,” Thune said. “We’re very concerned.”
Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum products as GOP senators met for lunch, leaving many in the dark on the planned executive order. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a top ally of the president, was surprised by the decision and later said he will “encourage” Trump to not move forward with the plan.
Other Republicans echoed Hatch’s sentiment.
“I’m highly concerned about the negative aspects,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., adding the aluminum tariff that could affect beer sales in Wisconsin.
“I completely want fair and reciprocal trade, and there’s no doubt about it, America’s been very magnanimous in its trade laws. There have been abuses building up over the years. We should target those abuses,” Johnson said. “I’m just not quite sure this is the way to do it overall with the steel and aluminum because it really will have negative unintended consequences.”
Trump’s decision came despite fierce opposition from members of his own administration, including National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
However, some officials have been supportive, including Secretary of Commerce Wilber Ross, whose department has deemed unfairly traded imports to be a national security threat.
Nevertheless, GOP lawmakers are not pleased with the announcement, which is set to be implemented next week
“I think this is terribly counterproductive for the [agriculture] economy, and I don’t know,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. “I’m not very happy.”
When asked why Trump hadn’t heeded the advice of Senate Republicans who think the tariffs will be bad for agriculture, Roberts was at a loss for words.
“Good question,” he replied.
