Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) urged President Donald Trump to exercise caution in enacting tariffs, as those against China could still set consumers in the United States back a good deal annually.
Trump issued multiple tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China over the weekend, prompting all three countries to issue their own retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. Since then, Trump has opted to pause the tariffs against Canada and Mexico for a month because both countries offered to strengthen border security.
TRUMP CONTINUES TO SHOW THAT TARIFFS WORK
“We now have troops on our side, if they have troops on their side, we can take what is a lawless area and hopefully bring law and order to that area,” Paul assessed on Fox News’s America’s Report. “So no, I think that’s a huge win for him, even though I don’t agree with the economic benefit of tariffs, I do think he did use the negotiating leverage to get something good. I just hope we can stop with the victory and not put in place a tax that is not beneficial to the American consumer.”
Paul has equated tariffs to taxes on U.S. consumers and said they are a “disaster for trade and for the consumer” unless they are only used as a negotiating tactic. While Canada and Mexico’s tariffs are currently on hold, China has yet to withdraw its newly announced tariffs against the U.S.
“Even if the tariffs are only on China, the average price that the consumer will pay is about $1,000 more,” Paul explained. “So every American will be $1,000 less rich because of these tariffs.”
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Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to Trump, has insisted that the tariffs are meant to fight “a drug war, not a trade war” and that anyone concerned about inflation is “dishonoring” U.S. residents who have died from fentanyl snuck across the U.S. border. Paul said that statement was “kind of ridiculous,” arguing that those opposed to tariffs do not inherently support fentanyl flowing into the country.
Like Navarro, Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have argued the tariffs are meant to combat fentanyl. Vance argued that the tariffs were meant to tell other countries that the U.S. is “done being taken advantage of.”
