Day 498: Though content to do nothing, Trump’s newest trade war frustrates even GOP

Donald Trump has a fundamental misunderstanding about trade wars and their overall impact on the market and cost of goods. His blustery rhetoric on the subject frequently tanks trading markets as he fails to grasp simple concepts, such as trade wars hurting all parties, including Americans, and trade deficits signaling a robust economy.

Republicans were fine to sit mostly quietly as Trump’s yammering was focused on China, but now that he has suddenly turned his mouth toward American allies in the Europe Union, Canada and Mexico, many in Trump’s own party are speaking out against him.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) called it “bad news” and predicted imminent retaliation from the key U.S. allies. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said there is “mounting evidence that these tariffs will harm Americans.” And Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) warned that similar policies 90 years ago sparked the Great Depression.

“This is dumb. Europe, Canada, and Mexico are not China, and you don’t treat allies the same way you treat opponents,” Sasse said. “‘Make America Great Again’ shouldn’t mean ‘Make America 1929 Again.’”

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker called the move an “abuse of authority only intended for national security purposes.”

“This is a big mistake. These tariffs will raise prices and destroy manufacturing jobs, especially auto jobs, which are one-third of all Tennessee manufacturing jobs,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who said tariffs are “basically higher taxes on American consumers.”

However, for all the talk by Republican senators, there’s been little impetus to actually prevent Trump from making these kinds of decisions.

Yet House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have shown no interest in passing legislation to block Trump’s tariffs or require congressional approval, a move that would essentially bring Capitol Hill to a standstill.

Trump is running amok, and Republican leaders have ceded control to allow him to do so. By engaging in yet another trade war, costs go up for everybody and the ability to export American products goes down. Immediately announcements of retaliatory tariffs aren’t the least bit surprising.

The world is rapidly shrinking for U.S. goods.

498 days in, 964 to go

Follow us on Twitter at @TrumpTimer