The Hill is out with a interesting story….
While Donald Trump keeps up his cheery boasting about a trade war with China, the Europeans and just about anyone else?
Republicans across the nation and particularly in export manufacturing states grow increasing worried …
The problem of possible price increases on exported goods and imported goods could kick in right before the upcoming midterm elections and could have an effect on the nation’s economy…..
Of course Donald Trump wouldn’t be effect at all….
He’s rich….
The problem is the same one that has been ongoing since Trump got his current job….
Republicans simply do NOT have the ‘ball’s’ to stand up and vote AGAINST almost anything Trump does…..
This time could Trump could be driving the American economy into a ditch while these guys stand around and Trump supporters cheer their guy for doing so…..
Frustrated Republican lawmakers plan to step up pressure on President Trump to back off from his aggressive trade policies, which have cast a shadow over the U.S. economy, hurt farmers and prompted some companies to curtail domestic manufacturing.
Senior administration officials promised Republican senators from agriculture-dependent states last month that they would be able to wrap up negotiations with Canada and Mexico, two of the United States’s biggest trade partners, by Labor Day. But that timeline is starting to slip. GOP lawmakers are worried about the effect on domestic manufacturers and commodity prices when the fall harvest arrives amid the home stretch of the midterm elections.
Lawmakers will be closely watching the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting between Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who is traveling to the nation’s capital to head off a full-blown transatlantic trade war.
“We’re trying to figure out tactically what’s the right step forward,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is working with colleagues to rein in Trump’s trade policies.
About a dozen Republican senators met last week to discuss how to stop Trump from moving forward with new rounds of tariffs that could stall what has been consistent economic growth so far this year.
“I think there’s likely to be a group of senators who go over one more time, very soon, to talk to them about reconsidering what they’re doing,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has teamed up with Toomey on a bill that would give Congress authority over the president’s power to impose tariffs.
Republican senators have been lobbying the president for months to ease off his threat of tariffs but have little to show for it.
The economy has only gained momentum this year, with growth projected to hit 3.8 percent or higher in the second quarter.
But Republicans on Capitol Hill worry that once the effects of a trade war show up in the macroeconomic numbers, it will be too late to repair the damage as companies will have already moved manufacturing overseas and commodities markets will have signed contracts with other exporters…..