On June 5, McCarthy told Bloomberg News, “We should support the president so we can get an agreement, so we don’t have tariffs. Them talking…
On June 5, McCarthy told Bloomberg News, “We should support the president so we can get an agreement, so we don’t have tariffs. Them talking about not supporting him undercuts his ability to do that.”
The comment came hours after Trump thanked McCarthy for his prior criticism of the GOP Senators who oppose his use of tariffs to shield Americans’ wages and neighborhoods from the impact of cheap labor migration via Mexico:
Trump’s tweet follows his Tuesday pushback against the establishment GOP’s threat to legislatively block his tariff strategy. “I think if they do, it’s foolish. There’s nothing more important than borders.”
Many GOP Senators are speaking against Trump’s tariff strategy, even though officials expect up to 800,000 Central American migrants to cross from Mexico into the United States in the 12 months up to October. The opposition follows the GOP caucus’s back-room opposition in 2017 and 2018 to Trump’s push for a border wall and his proposals to reform immigration laws.
This new outspoken opposition to the use of tariffs is stoked by the Koch network of investors and political donors: “We don’t think they’re the right approach,” Tim Phillips, the president of Americans For Prosperity told CBS. He continued:
Democrats and the Mexican government are leveraging opposition by the Koch networks and the GOP Senators as they resist Trump’s strategy to block the huge cheap labor migration into Americans’ blue-collar workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods.
For example, Sen. Chuck Schumer declared June 4 that “President Trump has a habit of proposing asinine and dangerous policies before backing off… [and] has a habit of pretending that the very act of not following through on a misguided policy is somehow a victory. So, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if President Trump doesn’t follow through on these tariffs either.”
Trump countered with a tweet:
The establishment GOP’s opposition to Trump’s popular strategy is prompting growing criticism from the GOP’s populist wing.
Lou Dobbs, a host on the Fox Business Network, said June 4:
Trump is also getting support from some establishment GOP Senators who recognize the importance of the issue to their voters.
