Rand Paul Rages Against Trump Tariffs In Fox Op-Ed, Warns Republicans They’re Inviting ‘Electoral Disasters’
Screenshot via Fox News.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned Republicans that “electoral disasters” are coming if they do not abandon support for President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
In a Thursday op-ed for Fox News, Paul called tariffs “taxes on foreign imports that are paid by American consumers” and noted that historically tariffs have been nothing but bad news for Republicans.
Trump put forth sweeping tariffs this week on imports from a number of countries, leading to the stock market taking some major hits and retaliatory actions, including from China. Paul predicted everything from homes to gas will see sharp cost increases.
“Tariffs are not just bad for American families and the national economy; tariffs are also bad for Republicans,” Paul declared.
He wrote:
Tariffs have been electoral disasters for Republicans. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 caused such a spike in prices that the Republican Party lost nearly 100 seats in the House and by the end of the next election, the House, Senate, and White House were all in Democratic hands.
When the House passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff on May 28, 1929, stock prices in New York fell in June. Senate passage of the Smoot-Hawley tariff on March 24, 1930, triggered a dramatic fall in stock prices. And, on June 17, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the bill into law, the stock market plummeted even farther.
The senator also blasted the president for tariffs imposed in his first term, arguing White House officials touting other economic actions to offset any fallout from tariffs is a “clear admission” that tariffs hurt consumers:
But the actions of those who now advocate for tariffs acknowledge the damage tariffs cause, even if their words do not. Recently, the Secretary of Agriculture indicated the administration was preparing programs to mitigate “economic catastrophes” for farmers harmed by tariffs—a clear admission that tariffs hurt Americans. The first Trump administration authorized $28 billion in farmer bailouts to offset financial losses caused by tariffs. Do Americans expect to get hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars back from the government to pay for their increased costs caused by the tariffs? Of course not.
The senator pressed Republicans to support his No Taxation Without Representation Act, which would require Congress to approve tariffs before they are imposed. Republicans supporting tariffs, according to Paul, need to “rediscover their principles.” He noted even late President Ronald Reagan was against tariffs as an economic strategy.
“The truth is that tariffs are taxes. They don’t punish foreign governments; they punish American families,” Paul wrote, adding, “It’s time to terminate the tariffs.”
