Chuck Grassley Confronts Trump

Chuck Grassley

In an op-ed today in The Wall Street Journal, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, who is the U.S. Senate’s president pro tempore and chairman of the Finance Committee, wrote:

Many Americans have been harmed by retaliatory tariffs. Mexican tariffs on U.S. pork, to take one example, have lowered the value of live hogs by $12 an animal. Iowa is the top pork-producing state in the country. That means jobs, wages and communities are hurt every day these tariffs continue—as I hear directly from Iowans. It’s time for the tariffs to go.

And this:

If these tariffs aren’t lifted, USMCA is dead. There is no appetite in Congress to debate USMCA with these tariffs in place... 

The administration can take the lead by promptly lifting tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico and working with allies to address the true source of overcapacity: China. This essential step is fully within the administration’s control and would immediately clear a significant hurdle to passage. Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats should recognize this historic win for the country and engage in good faith to pass USMCA this year.

As I have said before USMCA is not free trade, it is crony trade but crony trade is better than no trade. That said, it is good to see a Republican senator call Trump out on his tariffs.

-RW