'You are making that assumption!' GOP lawmaker put on the spot over Trump's change of tune

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) wasn't buying CNN anchor Pamela Brown's assertion Friday that Donald Trump "changed his tune" on tariffs once the stock market started to tank.

Over the past weeks, Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, then granted temporary reprieves, announced an exemption for car manufacturers, activated the tariffs, then announced Thursday that he was pausing tariffs on Mexico for one month "as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum."

All of the chaos and uncertainty has made investors nervous, causing stock indices to fluctuate wildly, reported The New York Times.

"Tariffs are an effective short term negotiating tool, and I think the president delaying on auto manufacturers is not an issue if it's covered under the terms of the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal, that's fine," Lawler said.

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Brown interjected, "I also want to make sure that I'm able to respond to to what you said with the facts, you know, because in terms of the Mexico and Canada tariffs, the only thing that changed was the stock markets went down. There was clearly a big reaction to that. Donald Trump saw that and changed his tune...Businesses don't like this uncertainty. They don't like the back and forth. And that's kind of what we're seeing play out in the in the economy right now."

"Look, the stock market is going to fluctuate day to day. If we're making decisions based on, you know, a one-day analysis of the stock market, that's certainly not a way to to govern," Brown said.

"So, should he have not done what he did? Because it seemed to be in reaction to the stock market."

"You're surmising — no, you're making that assumption. Did you speak to him directly? Did he tell you that's why he did that? I don't think so," Lawler asserted.

"Certainly, we have reporting that that certainly factored into the decision making," Brown said.

Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.