President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser attempted to soothe Senate Republicans alarmed by the president’s aggressive trade policies ahead of a potential vote to reject the executive branch’s sweeping power to enact tariffs.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer attended the Senate GOP lunch on Capitol Hill on Tuesday after lawmakers spent two weeks back in their districts, where they heard from farmers and small business owners who are anxious about what the tariffs will do to their bottom lines. Several senators said Greer reassured them that there will be trade deals coming within weeks, which would help put their constituents at ease.
“He feels like they’re making good progress and that they will be announcing deals soon,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). “And of course, that’s going to be very helpful if they do.”
Democrats are expected to force a vote later this week on a resolution to disapprove of Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs between 10 and 50 percent on nearly every country in the world. While Trump paused the higher tariff rates less than 24 hours after they went into effect, he’s left in place a global 10 percent tariff as well as a 145 percent tariff on China.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned Republicans during the lunch against helping the Democrats pass the resolution, just weeks after four GOP senators crossed the aisle to pass a resolution disapproving of Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
“This is a messaging vote for the Democrats. And it’s important to — especially now with the administration on the cusp of getting some deals on trade with other countries — that our folks hang together, give them the space to do that,” Thune said of his message to his conference in a brief post-lunch interview.
The majority leader also launched a staunch defense of Trump’s trade strategy in the face of poor polling and economic turmoil over it, insisting the president’s “policy decisions are the right ones.”
Some Republicans remain uneasy about the tariffs, as they’ve watched Trump’s favorability ratings and consumer sentiment dip to the same level as the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There were a lot of questions,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who said he didn’t want to use the word “concerns” because it would be taken out of context. Kennedy said he expected to hear about a deal in the next few weeks — and wasn’t expecting the administration to announce all of its deals at once.
That reassured Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who said senators advised Greer to roll out deals as they happen, not to wait for when the 90-day pause ends July 9.
“Roll them out as they come along, don’t try to, you know, save them all up for the Fourth of July,” Cramer said. “Because people are anxious about it. They want to see the results.”
While back in his district over the past two weeks, Hoeven said, he learned his constituents are largely supportive of Trump’s goal with the tariffs — specifically lowering tariff barriers to open up new markets for U.S. exports. But he said they are nervous about the disruptions that are happening in the short term, particularly as farmers could potentially lose market share and small businesses are feeling forced to put decisions on hold.
“Some of them are maybe delaying decisions, and that’s why we want to keep this moving,” Hoeven said. “Because that delay can have a negative impact on the economy. And that’s why the things we’ve been talking about, getting some announcements out on some of these deals sooner versus later, is going to be helpful.”
