Many economists — from liberals and progressives to conservatives and libertarians — were hoping that President Donald Trump would abandon his tariff proposals. But on Thursday, January 30, Trump reiterated his desire to impose 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on goods coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada. And he said he may follow through as soon as February 1.
Trump is also proposing new tariffs on goods from Mainland China, some possibly as high as 60 percent. And economists on both the left and the right are warning that Trump’s tariffs, if he follows through, will cause prices to soar for everything from fruits and vegetables to electronics to building materials.
According to Politico reporters Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney, one prominent Republican who has a lot to lose from possible Trump tariffs is a major ally: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota).
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The 64-year-old Thune has been representing South Dakota in Congress since the 1990s — first in the U.S. House of Representatives, now in the U.S. Senate. And Hill and Carney, in an article published on January 31, emphasize that the tariffs Trump is proposing could hit Thune’s state hard.
The Politico reporters explain, “No congressional leader is more at risk of getting caught in the crossfire of Donald Trump’s coming trade wars than Senate Majority Leader John Thune…. Thune knows the stakes all too well: Retaliatory tariffs during Trump’s 2018 trade war with China crippled South Dakota’s agriculture-dependent economy — which relies on the billions of dollars’ worth of soybeans, corn, beef and other agricultural products it exports abroad every year, plus more in manufactured goods.”
Thune, according Hill and Carney, must “decide whether he will use his leadership perch to push back on a tactic that has given him and other agriculture-state GOP lawmakers heartburn or align himself with a burgeoning bloc of MAGA-tinged protectionists in Congress.”
“Farmers (in South Dakota) are still reeling from their losses, and a standoff with Mexico and Canada — which are now American farmers’ two largest export markets — would be devastating,” the Politico journalists report. “U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico are expected to reach $29.9 billion this fiscal year and a record-high $29.2 billion to Canada, with China further behind, according to the Agriculture Department.”
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Hill and Carney add, “Other farm-state lawmakers and the agriculture industry are quietly counting on Thune to push back against Trump charging into another wave of catastrophic trade wars. But that’s a tall order.”
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Read Politico’s full article at this link.
