'Uncertainty among Republicans': Analyst says GOP losing confidence in tariffs
Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly shaky on support for President Donald Trump's tariffs as the economic bill comes due, CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian told anchor Jake Tapper on Friday afternoon.
Trump himself appears to be aware of his, he noted. He continues to announce new tariffs, today declaring a 250 percent tax on dairy products from Canada — but for the second time since taking office, instituted a monthlong partial pause on tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
"It just keeps going back and forth, back and forth," said Tapper. "He reined it in. Was yesterday's walkback an attempt to calm the markets, and the Republicans who had been reaching out to the White House and worried about this? Or is there even any sense of strategy?"
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"I think it's hard to really divine a strategy here, other than looking for a win, right?" replied Chalian. "I mean, I think what you are seeing is that, yes, to answer your question, Jake, it's hard to imagine that the — I know he said yesterday he doesn't look at the markets anymore. I have a bridge I can sell you if you think that that's true."
"But I do think that there was an attempt to see if he could do something that would calm the markets," Chalian continued. "It didn't work yesterday. I guess today is a different story, but the whiplash is now part — it's a feature. It's a feature of what is going on, and it is what is causing ... [is] uncertainty in the markets, but it is also causing uncertainty among Republicans on Capitol Hill about his policy, about its enactment. Real concern that they're hearing from some constituents of the impact. And as you know, the economy is the most important issue to voters."
"And so the fact that he's gyrating around this, even though tariffs have been his most consistent position in his entire public life in terms of a public policy position, he seems rather inconsistent about actually enacting them," he added.
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