ANALYSIS — Does Donald Trump’s tariff plan and related goal of revamping the U.S. economy amount to central planning by an overstepping president or him executing the “will of the people”?
When it comes to Trump’s economic agenda, the views of two veteran lawmakers capture their parties’ different public views. One Democrat sees “central chaos, not central planning,” while a top Senate GOP leader protested the notion of Trump as the central planner in chief, overseeing a command economy.
Trump made clear Monday that his objective is to methodically negotiate with many of the nearly 90 countries he slapped tariffs on last week. He also acknowledged that his vision of new factories dotting the American landscape would take years to carry out.
“Yeah, it takes time. You’ve got to build a thing called a factory. You have to build your energy. You have to do a lot of things,” Trump said Monday, defending his tariffs and economy-overhauling push.
“We’re going to have one shot at this,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “And no other president is going to do this, what I’m doing. And I’ll tell you what, it’s an honor to do it because we have been just destroyed, what they’ve done to our system.”
All of that is just fine with many Republican lawmakers.
Asked Friday if the economic makeover that Trump has pushed since being sworn in on Jan. 20 gives him any concerns about an all-powerful executive branch dictating to the private and public sectors, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso replied, “Oh, I disagree with everything you’re saying.”
“President Trump ran for office. I was at many of his rallies. And at every one of them, he mentioned tariffs,” said the No. 2 Senate Republican, who first joined the chamber in 2007. “And he was elected overwhelmingly. He won every one of the battleground states, won 312 electoral votes. So he is carrying out the will that the people voted for.”
Still, Trump did not use those rallies last year to target allies like Israel, which received a 17 percent import duty. That surprise move prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fly to Washington to meet one-on-one with Trump on Monday.
‘Treated fairly’
Asked if he was surprised that Israel and other U.S. allies were hit with import fees higher than the baseline 10 percent tariff that a number of countries received, Barrasso stood by Trump.
“The president was very clear that we’re not going to be taken advantage of by people who have been doing that for decades,” Barrasso said over the dinging bell of a Senate subway train. “And with regard to how they’re coming up with these [tariffs], the president’s been very clear he’s going to make sure that we’re treated fairly in global trade.”
Democrats, however, contend that Trump’s tariff policy isn’t based on any economic strategy and could cause a severe global economic slowdown. Some see his objective of making the U.S. a “manufacturing superpower” and his willingness to negotiate tariff relief with some world leaders as canceling out each other.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal called that a major policy contradiction that has needlessly sowed uncertainty.
“I wish there was planning. It’s total chaos and incompetence,” the veteran lawmaker, who was first elected in 2010, said Friday. “There’s no plan here. It’s just someone who comes and throws a grenade and hopes that something magical happens.
“We’re imposing tariffs on Israel and none on our enemies and adversaries. We’re hoping that there will be more American manufacturing when, in fact, we’re raising the cost of manufacturing in this country. We have tariffs on products that we have no hope of building or making here: coffee and bananas.”
The bottom line, according to Blumenthal: “It’s not central planning, it’s central chaos.”
For the most part, Republican lawmakers have kept their praise at the broad-brush level.
“President Trump said it best: We must be strong, courageous, and patient. Protecting the American worker and preserving a free market takes time—but it will be worth it,” Rep. Andy Ogles wrote on social media. To be sure, the Tennessee Republican is a Trump loyalist with a “Wanted” sign outside his Cannon Building suite depicting “Known Get-Trump Judicial Activists.”
‘Self-destructive’
Some Democratic members say they share Trump’s goal of increasing America’s manufacturing prowess. One is California Rep. Ro Khanna — but on Tuesday he panned the president’s tactics.
“I’m hearing that these are some of the most self-destructive, wealth-destroying policies that any modern president has had,” he said, citing views of his Silicon Valley constituents, including some Big Tech executives.
“It’s hurting small businesses. It across the board has hurt the country without actually incentivizing new manufacturing to come here,” Khanna told CNBC. Asked whether he thought Trump intends for the duties to remain permanent or was willing to negotiate, the California Democrat said, “The truth is I don’t know, and no one in the country knows. And that’s part of the problem.”
“And the problem is, even if they fix this, even if they take away these blanket tariffs, how confident are you going to be that they don’t wake up in September and impose them again?” he added.
On the permanent-or-negotiate question, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested Tuesday that it wasn’t a binary choice. She said Trump plans to negotiate when countries offer plans that would benefit American workers and industries but would not hold talks on what he deems nonbeneficial proposals. She said Trump met with his trade team earlier Tuesday and directed them to pursue “tailor-made deals” with every country that reaches out.
Trump on Tuesday sounded like he was in full dealmaking mode.
“I just had a great call with the Acting President of South Korea,” he wrote on social media, referring to Han Duck-soo, who also serves as the country’s prime minister. “We talked about their tremendous and unsustainable Surplus, Tariffs, Shipbuilding, large scale purchase of U.S. LNG, their joint venture in an Alaska Pipeline, and payment for the big time Military Protection we provide to South Korea.
“In any event, we have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries. Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the U.S., and things are looking good,” Trump added. “Like with South Korea, we are bringing up other subjects that are not covered by Trade and Tariffs, and getting them negotiated also. ‘ONE STOP SHOPPING’ is a beautiful and efficient process!!!” Trump said.
With such an ambitious economic overhaul agenda, one that has surpassed his campaign-trail rhetoric, that would force world leaders and private sector executives to negotiate directly with him, one Democratic strategist last week dubbed his tactics “spectacle with a purpose.”
“Trump’s trade agenda isn’t about rebuilding American industry. It’s about building a political machine,” Waleed Shahid, a former spokesman for progressive group Justice Democrats, wrote on Substack. “Their purpose isn’t to re-industrialize America, but to reconstruct power: to hurt broadly, then selectively relieve that pain for those who prove their loyalty. This is less an economic plan than a system of incentives and punishments, weaponized to enforce allegiance.”
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