The top-ranking Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations, Intelligence and Armed Services committees warned President Trump in a letter Thursday that his administration’s tariff policy is hurting American security interests by antagonizing allies in Europe and Asia.
The senators argued that Trump’s tariff policy will not only cost the Average American household approximately $2,800 a year in higher costs, but it “undermines longstanding U.S. alliances and partnerships and harms our national security interests.”
“We urge you to assess the long-term national security implications of your short-sighted, impulsive tariff agenda,” they wrote.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, signed the May 15 letter to Trump.
They argued that Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs announced in early April on “Liberation Day” — which he later reduced to 10 percent for 90 days — on countries such as France, Germany, South Korea and Japan are having a destabilizing effect on U.S.-led Western alliances.
“Some of our allies, arguably our most critical allies who have stood by us in our most challenging times, have announced economic countermeasures against the United States,” they wrote.
They noted that the European Commission has announced over $100 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States and that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has vowed to “fight these tariffs” implemented by the Trump administration.
The Democratic senators say they are “concerned that the US-EU negotiations show no sign of progress.”
European countries said on Thursday that they would not accept a trade deal similar to what Trump announced was agreed to between the United States and the United Kingdom earlier this month.
“At the same time as the administration is imposing new tariffs, we are also urging our European and Indo-Pacific partners to increase defense spending,” they wrote, pointing to a growing tension between Trump’s economic and national security priorities.
