Trump tariffs tear Republicans apart
Senate Republicans want to rein him in, but the House GOP isn't going there.
By RACHAEL BADE and BURGESS EVERETT 07/26/2018 05:05 AM EDT
Senate Republicans eager to take a harder line against President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war are running smack into an unlikely obstacle: their House GOP colleagues.
With Trump threatening $500 billion in additional tariffs on China and new levies on foreign cars, Senate Republicans are increasingly focused on writing legislation to tie his hands. And it’s not just usual Trump critics like Jeff Flake and Bob Corker: Trump ally Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch is working on a bill limiting the president from imposing new national security tariffs.
But across the Capitol, Speaker Paul Ryan and GOP leaders have all but rejected that approach. House Republicans, who rarely push back on the president, say it’s more productive to try to convince Trump privately or through letters or committee hearings than to force his hand legislatively. The president responds better to carrots than sticks, they say — and, privately, many of them fear his wrath heading into the thick of election season.
The split-strategy undermines Hill Republicans’ drive to blunt Trump’s protectionist trade policies. Instead, the political party of free markets is watching the president dole out $12 billion in subsidies for farmers hurt by his trade war with China, Europe, Canada and Mexico.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/26/trump-tariffs-republicans-trade-740571
