Republicans are growing restless and frustrated over President Donald Trump's escalating trade war — and some strategists are warning he's set to trigger a dangerous backlash, Politico reported on Tuesday.
Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, dubbed a "reciprocal" scheme even though the tariffs are in most cases far higher than those imposed on U.S. products by foreign countries, impose duties of 10 to 49 percent on virtually all foreign goods. The list of tariffs even singles out remote, uninhabited volcanic islands near Antarctica that have no trade with the U.S.
The result has been a panicked selloff in the stock market and forecasts of a likely imminent recession — which, GOP officials say, are not what their voters wanted.
The president "won in November because many voters saw him as an antidote to their economic malaise; as a candidate, he frequently promised to lower Americans’ everyday prices," noted Adam Cancryn and Myah Ward.
"But as president, he has chosen instead to plunge the country into fresh financial chaos, while insisting the market losses as a result of his tariffs are 'medicine' Americans need to take."
Whit Ayres, who polls for Republicans, said, “Trump was elected in part to lower inflation and juice the economy. Higher prices and slower growth are exactly the opposite of what Americans voted for.”
"The economic turbulence unleashed by the White House’s blanket tariffs is sending shudders through every level of the Republican Party. Alarmed officials worry the administration is driving the U.S. toward recession and dooming the GOP’s midterm chances — yet they have no idea what will convince Trump to change course," noted the report.
"Wall Street executives who cheered on Trump’s election in hopes he would boost the economy are starting to fret, publicly urging the White House to rein in its trade war."
Notably, prominent billionaires who backed Trump are now beggingg him to back off, including hedge funder Bill Ackman and even Trump's chief benefactor and de facto Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk.
Stephen Moore, a longtime Trump adviser who breaks with him on trade and takes a more traditional GOP view of the economy, had a blunt response: “It’s a question of what the pain threshold is for the American people and the Republican voters. We’ve all lost a lot of money.”
