Yesterday it was reported that several Republican Senators are opposed to Trump’s new tariffs on Mexico and are discussing legislation to stop them:
Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill desperately want to convince President Trump to back off his plan to impose tariffs on Mexican imports but disagree over the best strategy moving forward.
Some, such as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) leadership team, want to persuade the president to change course through private dialogue.
Others, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Sens. Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), are talking about passing legislation to curtail Trump’s tariff authority.
“We’ll be having some meetings shortly to talk about it,” Cornyn told reporters ahead of a leadership meeting as lawmakers were returning to Washington on Monday after a weeklong recess. “A lot of concerns [have been] expressed about the unintended consequences and so I’m sure we’ll be visiting with the administration about that,” he added.
This morning in a UK press conference, Trump was asked about this potential GOP opposition to his new tariffs on Mexico and what he thinks about it.
In short, Trump is not a fan:
President Trump says Republicans would be “foolish” to attempt to block his proposed tariffs on Mexico, adding that it’s “more likely that the tariffs go on” https://t.co/P7oxHAMquC pic.twitter.com/ITDL7y51wB
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 4, 2019
Trump says he doesn’t think the GOP will do anything to stop his new tariffs and suggests it would be foolish if they do.
He also notes his high approval rating in the Republican Party. Which suggests to me that when he says it would be ‘foolish’ to oppose these new tariffs, he doesn’t just mean that the border will suffer. I think he also means that those Republicans may be damaging their reelection chances if they oppose him. That’s at least how I took it.