12/2/2019

GOP/TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is winning at least one trade war: The one with his own party. Free-trading Republicans have feuded with the president for years now, and his decision on Monday [12-2-19] to reimpose tariffs on Brazil and Argentina brought new criticism from GOP senators — right as he needs them to fend off the impeachment inquiry that threatens his presidency. Yet despite the complaints from Senate Republicans that Trump is eroding his party’s free trade bona fides, the GOP seemingly can’t — or won’t — rally the votes to handcuff the president. Competing proposals that would give Congress more sway over certain tariffs have been languishing in the Senate Finance Committee, leaving more establishment-minded Republicans little option but to sit back and gripe and wonder what just hit them.”

Burgess Everett and Mariane Levine, “Trump conquers Republicans on trade,” Politico, December 2, 2019