The cold, hard truth is that tariffs are bad for the GOP and even worse for America.
As he pursues his trade war, Donald Trump is threatening to go for the nuclear option. On Monday morning, he vowed to impose an additional 50 percent in tariffs on China in addition to the 34 percent that he announced this past Wednesday. “Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long-term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump declared. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” He went on to declare, “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!)”
But there’s a lot to panic about. The stock market is plummeting. So is the price of crude oil, which dropped below $60 a barrel. Market turmoil has also lowered the value of the dollar. And while Europe has not yet officially retaliated, it is still implementing retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s earlier steel and aluminum tariffs. At the same time, it is offering to go to zero on cars and industrial products.
As Trump bellows and brays about the beauty of tariffs, business leaders are starting to sound alarms. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman observed, “[W]e are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital.”
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that Trump tariffs, far from ushering in a new golden age, might well portend economic misery. “The recent tariffs will likely increase inflation and are causing many to consider a greater probability of a recession,” he stated in a letter to shareholders. “Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth.”
What about Congress, which has the power to rescind Trump’s power to impose tariffs? The opponents in the Senate can be counted on one hand. Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are voicing their reservations about Trump’s moves. The leading and most impassioned opponent of Trump’s misbegotten crusade for tariffs is Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).
Paul, a lifelong libertarian who is the son of former Senator Ron Paul, has always been an unflinching advocate of free-market economics. Unlike many of his colleagues, however, he has not been prepared to subordinate his convictions in the service of Trump. Instead, he has held to them, which is why he is now incurring Trump’s wrath.
In a floor speech, Paul decried the abdication of legislative authority by Congress over the past several decades. He also made plain his distaste for arbitrary power exercised by any president. “I don’t care if the president is a Republican or a Democrat,” he said. “I don’t want to live under emergency rule. I don’t want to live where my representatives cannot speak for me and have a check and balance on power.”
Paul, of course, is right that Trump and his janissaries have concocted a fictitious emergency to justify his imposition of sweeping tariffs, a move no less capricious than King George III imposing a variety of taxes on the thirteen colonies. Together with Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Paul is supporting a resolution to lift Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is co-sponsoring a bill with Maria Cantwell (D-WA) of Washington that would require congressional approval of any new tariffs within sixty days.
Trump asked rhetorically earlier this week, “What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS?” Since then, he has observed that “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.” But what if tariffs are poison rather than a curative for the economy?
The cold, hard truth is that tariffs are bad for the GOP and even worse for America. Referring to the 1890s and the 1930s, when Republicans championed tariffs and sank the economy, Rand Paul observed, “They’re not only bad economically, they’re bad politically.” Good for Paul.
Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of The National Interest and is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. He has written on both foreign and domestic issues for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, TheWall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Reuters, Washington Monthly, and TheWeekly Standard. He has also written for German publications such as Cicero, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Der Tagesspiegel.
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