Democrats are quick to say that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are horrible, awful, terrible. But Democrats are also stressing that they are not inherently anti-tariff.
What Trump’s political opponents say they really dislike is the “chaos” he has unleashed.
“Tariffs are an important tool in our economic toolbox,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “Trump is creating chaos, and that chaos undercuts our economy and our families, both in the short term and the long term. … He’s just created a worldwide hurricane, and that’s not good for anyone.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Democrats have a consensus around “a unified concept, which is targeted tariffs can work, across the board tariffs are bad.”
“The right targeting is in the eye of the beholder, but nobody on our side thinks zero tariffs ever,” Kaine said.
The Democrats’ message is meant to convey that they are reasonable, focused on capable governance and attuned to financial market distress. It’s a pitch toward swing voters who would like to see more manufacturing yet are uncomfortable with the consequences of Trump’s approach to tariffs. The risk is that it also is a nuanced argument at a time when pithy critiques travel faster and spread wider on social media than do measured policy analyses.
To the Trump White House, that message is nothing but hypocrisy.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday noted that Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who would later become House speaker, was warning in June 1996 that trade with China meant higher trade deficits and job losses.
“It is about nothing less than our economic future, our national security and our democratic principles,” said Pelosi before the House voted to not overturn then Democratic President Bill Clinton’s decision to extend most-favored-nation trade status for China for another year.
The Trump administration views those remarks as evidence that Democrats actually back what Trump is doing, despite their stated opposition.
“Everyone in Washington, whether they want to admit it or not, knows that this president is right when it comes to tariffs and when it comes to trade,” Leavitt told reporters. “Nancy Pelosi can thank President Trump today.”
Not all Democrats have threaded the needle cleanly.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave a speech in Washington on Wednesday calling for tariffs to be used like a “scalpel.” Hours later, she was in the Oval Office with Trump — in a moment caught on video — as the president signed directives for the Justice Department to investigate two of his public critics and gave noncommittal musings on tariff negotiations.
Whitmer’s office later said in a statement that she was “surprised” that she was brought in for the event after a meeting with Trump and that “her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event.”
Trump this month unilaterally imposed sweeping tariffs on China, the European Union, Mexico, Canada, Japan and South Korea, among dozens of other nations.
But on Wednesday, he suspended most of the tariffs for 90 days while applying a baseline import tax of 10% to most nations, a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and a tariff of as much as 25% on Mexico and Canada. There are also tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more planned on specific products.
The tariffs are expected to generate hundreds of billions of dollars annually in new revenues, but an average U.S. household could see disposable income fall by more than $4,000 as importers and companies pass along the costs of the levies.
Interest rates on the U.S. debt are rising as investors worry about the soundness of Trump’s policies. Major stock indexes are down and consumer sentiment is at its second lowest level in the history of the University of Michigan survey.
Some Democrats are trying to keep the focus on their constituents, resurrecting talking points from Trump’s tariff battles during his first term.
“Farmers, in particular, who were hit very hard by Trump’s last trade wars, are terrified that this may be existential to their businesses,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. “These are mostly small and medium-sized family farms. Their input costs are going to go up and their export markets are going to close down.”
Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., said the tariffs would be “catastrophic” for urban and rural communities alike in her state. But Moore added that Democrats should still advocate for raising labor and product standards to keep American goods and services competitive in global markets.
“I know that many of our autoworkers were lured into voting for Donald Trump because they thought perhaps he was going to give them some relief,” said Moore. “But the prices of cars are going to go up because the component parts are everywhere. There’s no strategy for it.”
But not all Democrats want to hedge their response to Trump’s trade tools.
“I’m a little uninterested in what the Democratic response should be like,” said Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii. “Trump is intentionally destroying the American economy, and I think we should just say that and not make it very complicated.”
