President Trump is going ahead with his tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and the European Union, despite having little support in Congress. Republicans have unabashedly spoken out against Trump's trade decision.
“I’d like to kill ’em,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said of the tariffs.
“Individual senators have met with the president, including me," echoed Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KA). "The Ag committee met with him, the Finance Committee met with him. And there’s nobody for this.”
Trump is “a protectionist who has his policy wrapped around the rear axle of a pickup," the Agriculture Committee chairman added. "And it’s hard to get out.”
Republicans worry that the tariffs would harmfully affect their state economies, especially after major companies like General Motors warned the Department of Commerce that the trade measure would lead to reduced employment and lower wages. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) was especially on edge after Harley Davidson announced it may need to move operations overseas.
“Nobody wins a trade war,” he said.
The president continues to insist the tariffs are in America's best interests because it will force Canada and the EU to negotiate fairer trade practices. Trump has even claimed the EU was created to "take advantage" of the U.S. on trade. The U.S. ambassador to Estonia resigned over those comments.
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Canada is just as peeved. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can't fathom why Trump is treating his Northern neighbor like a national security concern. This week, Canada made good on its retaliatory efforts, slapping tariffs of their own on American imports.
The two countries “fought and died together on the beaches of World War II, on the mountains of Afghanistan and have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in some of the most difficult places in the world, that are always there for each other, this is insulting to that,” Trudeau said last month.
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