Republicans hail Trump’s tariff threat as smart ‘negotiating strategy’ as he seeks to tackle fentanyl and border crises

Republican lawmakers welcome threat from President-elect Donald Trump punish Canada, China and Mexico with extended tariffs as a clever “negotiating strategy” to help curb the fentanyl and border crises – despite economists fearing they could sink the economy.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw said Trump proved his threats worked – pointing out the “Remain in Mexico” policywhich required asylum seekers attempting to cross the southern border to wait in Mexico until their cases were heard.

“This is how Trump implemented the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy in the first place,” said Crenshaw (R-Texas). on Fox News Tuesday. “He threatened to impose tariffs, but those tariffs were never implemented.

He added: “I don’t need to teach economics 101 to anyone. Tariffs will hurt the American consumer, it’s true, but they are also good negotiating tools. Especially when these customs duties will hurt Mexico much more than us.”

On Monday, Trump pledged to impose a 25% across-the-board tax on all goods from Canada and Mexico if they fail to stem the border and fentanyl crisis.

The future 47th president also threatened to impose a 10% across-the-board tax on China – on top of current tariffs on goods from Beijing – unless it curbs the flow of drugs from its markets to the United States. Beijing does indeed face existing tariffs from the United States.

Before Trump’s announcement, Treasury Secretary-designate Scott Bessent suggested the tariffs could be used as a “maximalist negotiating position.” Other allies of the president-elect like Commerce Secretary-designate Howard Lutnick also suggested that it would be a bargaining chip.

“You have to negotiate and that’s what Trump gets. That’s what people don’t understand. That’s what these clowns in Washington don’t understand,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) boasted about the economic outlook. to the voice of the real America.

Other Republican Party skeptics of tariffs appear largely to be keeping their powder dry on Trump’s import tax.

“I’m concerned about its potential,” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Tuesday. “Right now, I view everything Trump does on tariffs as a negotiating tool.”

“And we’ll have to wait and see how successful he is at that.”

Other Republicans expressed full support.

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) also supported Trump, saying “I fully support President-elect Trump’s proposed aggressive economic measures against Mexico, Canada, and China, driven by serious concerns about our border security and the rampant drug trafficking plaguing our country.”

“Under the Biden-Harris administration, other countries have exploited our open borders, flooding the United States with drugs, criminals and dangerous practices. These reckless policies have led to countless deaths, including the tragic loss of American lives to fentanyl and other drug overdoses.

Last year, there were approximately 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the United States, 74,702 of which were due to fentanyl in particular. according to the data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) also praised Trump’s decision, focusing on how he wants Mexico to change its behavior.

“Mexico helps drug cartels and helps our enemies. They must pay the price,” Gimenez argued. “Mexico’s Socialist President Claudia Sheinbaum Sends 400,000 Barrels of Oil to Cuba’s Murderous Communist Castro Regime.”

How would it work

According to Alex Durante, an economist at the Tax Foundation, under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which the first Trump administration helped negotiate, none of the United States’ neighbors will have to pay taxes. customs if they comply with domestic content requirements.

Estimates vary on how much revenue the tariffs would generate. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects that tariffs on America’s three largest trading partners will raise up to $1.8 trillion over a decade.

Meanwhile, the Tax Foundation predicted this would generate up to $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years after taking into account factors such as price elasticity as well as a potential decline in import purchases.

It also estimates that these customs duties would weigh on gross domestic product by 0.4 percentage points and eliminate at least 344,900 jobs.

Combined, Canada, China And Mexico purchased more than $1 trillion in U.S. exports in 2023 and sent nearly $1.5 trillion in imports to the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. For context, the total GDP of the United States was $27.36 trillion in 2023.

By making the threat approximately 56 days before taking office, Trump gave time to negotiate with China, Canada and Mexico on tariffs.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Trump shortly after the threat in what he described as a “good call”, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote a letter to Trump outlining steps already taken to resolve these issues and has promised retaliation if he follows through.

Trump has long demonstrated a fondness for tariffs, which he has called “the most beautiful word in the dictionary,” despite his protectionist leanings that have strayed from Republican free trade orthodoxy in recent decades .

Republicans have split over tariffs in the past during the Trump era, with traditionalist free traders saying the tariffs would harm long-term U.S. competitiveness and populist protectionists wanting them to protect the industry.

“I don’t like tariffs,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “I don’t like that the president is promoting tariffs. I think tariffs are a tax on the consumer… you can protect certain industries, but it’s at the expense of other people.”

But economists say it’s like ‘negotiating with terrorists’

Most economists seem to think that widespread tariffs, like what Trump has proposed, could have harmful ripple effects on the economy.

“It’s a bad negotiating position, like holding a gun to your head and trying to negotiate with terrorists,” Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the libertarian Cato Institute, told the Post.

“It’s the old ‘Blazing Saddles’ routine where he holds a gun to his head and negotiates,” he added. “Tariffs have not been very successful in achieving U.S. goals and have only been successful half the time.”

Lincicome warned that the measure could “decrease investment in the United States by $30 billion to $40 billion” and noted that because “Congress has delegated much of its tariff powers to the president over the years,” Trump might be able to follow up. on this threat.

Durante said he “expects some sort of hit to GDP, and certainly a slowdown in growth from further escalation of tariffs.”

Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said Trump’s tariff threat “will start a trade war and cost jobs.”

“America depends on Mexico for its fruits, vegetables and many industrial inputs, and it relies on Canada for a large amount of crude oil. These prices will rise dramatically and the promised retaliation will kill jobs and harm the economy,” Riedl explained.

“These tariffs could raise $200 billion a year, but much of that revenue will be lost due to reduced demand for imports, falling real wages and the bailout of affected industries. »

Historically, trade wars have been devastating. During the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising tariffs to 20 percent and above on 20,000 imported products.

This protectionist policy, which triggered retaliatory measures from other countries, was seen by many economists as worsening the Great Depression.

Duncan Braid, coalition director of American Compass, a populist conservative group, defended Trump’s tariff threat, emphasizing that something must be done about the border and fentanyl crises.

“Instead of relying on the status quo that prioritizes free trade above all else, President Trump will put ordinary Americans first. Smuggling fentanyl across our borders is completely unacceptable and has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths,” Braid told the Post.

“It’s a breath of fresh air to have a president willing to use trade policy to promote the national interest, and Congress should support him by imposing a 10 percent across-the-board tariff and rolling back China’s PNTR .”