Economic aides to Donald Trump are scrambling to keep him from advancing a plan to slap 25 percent tariffs on about $200 billion worth of foreign-produced autos this year. The Washington Post writes:
Trump wants to move forward despite numerous warnings from GOP leaders and business executives who have argued that such a move could damage the economy and lead to political mutiny.
But Trump has become increasingly defiant in his trade strategy, following his own instincts and intuition and eschewing advice from his inner circle.
Part of the reason Trump doesn’t listen is likely the fact that Republicans never actually do anything to rein him in—all whine, no action. Trump tried to bolster his own case with a Wednesday tweet mocking "weak" politicians who implore him to stop using tariffs to counter "unfair" tariffs. “Are we just going to continue and let our farmers and country get ripped off?” he wrote.
The GOP frenzy comes in the wake of a newly announced White House plan to funnel $12 billion to farmers to shore up their pocket books after the devastating blows Trump's tariff policies have dealt to their export markets. That plan has been almost universally panned by Republican lawmakers and even farm advocacy groups alike. The message they're sending to the White House is that farmers want trade, not aid.
On MSNBC Wednesday, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania told Andrea Mitchell that Trump is "compounding government errors" with the billion-dollar bailout.
"It was a failed government policy in the first place in the form of these unnecessary tariffs that are doing the damage," Toomey said, "and now we're going to offset that by forcing taxpayers to send a check to the farmers."
But even as GOP lawmakers register their discontent, no word on any action with teeth. Just finger pointing and dismay for now with zero follow through. In the meantime, Trump is set to meet Wednesday with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss auto tariffs. Stay tuned. Trump sent a tweet out plugging the meeting and setting the expectation that “they won’t” negotiate with him. If they do negotiate in any way, he’ll be the first to call it a win.