1 week Ago By The Hill
Glimmers of optimism surrounding President Trump’s tariffs quickly faded on Tuesday as the White House dug in on the threat of new levies, the markets erased their small morning gains and Republican lawmakers grew increasingly frustrated with what they see as mixed messages coming from administration officials.The mood early on Tuesday was more upbeat than in recent days as the market showed signs of life for the first time in days on the heels of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying Trump is ready to negotiate with trading partners.Trump helped matters by saying he had a “great call” with acting South Korean President Han Duck-soo and that South Korean officials are traveling to the U.
S., while Bessent said Japanese and Vietnamese officials are also ready to strike deals.That feeling did not last.
Trump doubled down on adding 50 percent tariffs on top of the 54 percent rate he announced for China last week, bringing the tariff set to hit at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday to 104 percent and escalating the trade war between the two nations.
“It was a mistake for China to retaliate. The president, when America is punched, he punches back harder,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 300 points, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite each posting losses in excess of 1.
5 and 2 percent, respectively. The White House’s rhetoric is raising concerns among Republicans, who widely want the administration to go to the negotiating table with countries across the globe and for this emerging trade war to be short-lived. “Those things don’t happen overnight, which is why I guess everybody’s going to have to be a little bit patient,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.
D.) told The Hill. “But clearly, any progress they can show, demonstrate concessions that have been made, progress against the curve with respect to those deals, I think everybody’s going to .
.. view that as a positive step forward.
”The White House has put Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in charge of negotiations, and Leavitt said Tuesday that nearly 70 countries have already reached out to Trump to begin negotiations.
“Countries are falling over themselves” to make reforms to their trade practices, Leavitt said. “America does not need other countries as much as other countries need us.”Greer defended the president’s aggressive approach to trading partners on Tuesday when he was pressed on tariffs during his appearance before the Senate Finance Committee.
But even Republicans on the committee had some pointed questions for him.“Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.
C.) asked Greer. “I wish you well, but I am skeptical.
”Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is co-sponsoring a bill to rein in Trump’s tariff authority, said during the hearing that Congress has “delegated too much authority to the president.”Chief among the concerns for Senate Republicans is what they view as mixed messages emanating from the White House.
Headlining those are Bessent, who is insisting administration officials are ready to do business, while top trade adviser Peter Navarro has maintained tariffs are “not a negotiation.” “It is important that everybody be on the same page and hopefully get that kind of synced up,” Thune said, reiterating that Trump needs space to operate. “But it’s important that his team reflect what the ultimate purpose and objective is and hopefully that’ll become more clear with time.
”GOP lawmakers are especially airing concerns about Navarro, whom some view as an absolutist on the issue who is doing little to help the situation. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.
D.) told reporters that he still has “PTSD” stemming from Navarro’s work early in Trump’s first term. “He communicates so harshly because he believes so strongly.
It’s a conviction of his that this is the right way to go. What I don’t think he has is much of a sense of the human mind,” Cramer said, pointing to the actions by various world leaders amid this trade battle. “If you were to just apply rationality .
.. the idea that somehow every leader is going to do exactly what is natural to us, I think, is naive.
They won’t necessarily.”“It’s those absolutes. I always have some distrust of people who are certain of everything,” he added.
Trump, however, is making clear he respects those on both sides in his camp. He responded to Navarro’s hawkish look at the tariffs, saying “they can both be true. There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations.
” Leavitt added on Tuesday that the president “always has a listening ear” and rejected the idea that there was a shift toward allowing negotiations after the turbulence in the stock market in recent days. Republicans are also remaining cognizant that despite the words of top administration officials, there’s only one figure that truly matters when all is said and done. “The only person that matters is the president.
This is his policy. He designed it,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.
), acknowledging the massive changes, including the tariffs on China that are set to hit overnight. “This is a reset,” he added. “It’s a big reset button.
”.
