Republican strategist Karl Rove said in a Wednesday opinion piece that President Trump’s tariff rhetoric could cost the GOP their majorities in Congress.
In the Wall Street Journal piece, Rove said the Trump administration’s “messaging” around trade “is a muddled mess.”
“Republicans should hope the president really believes in reciprocity—the policy that if countries lower their tariffs, we’ll lower ours. He should have confidence that America can compete if the playing field is level,” he added.
On Wednesday, a federal court ruled that an emergency law did not give Trump unilateral authority to impose tariffs on close to every country, barring a series of February tariff announcements. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said judges on the court “brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump” after the ruling.
A federal appeals court later lifted the first ruling on Thursday, however, a separate federal court on the same day blocked the majority of the president’s tariffs.
Trump’s tariff rhetoric in the first few months of his second term has shaken markets, increased uncertainty about the economy and resulted in raised economic anxiety. The president’s trade policy has also strained relationships with longtime American allies like the European Union and Canada.
“Unless reciprocity prevails, the president’s chaotic trade talk will badly damage Republicans in the midterms. And if the House or Senate flips, the president will find it much harder to advance his priorities in his final two years,” Rove said in his Journal piece.
“Voters won’t blame foreign countries for higher prices or fewer goods. They’ll blame Donald Trump and his Republican Party,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
