As President Donald Trump rolled out new, expansive tariffs on Wednesday, most Republican lawmakers were publicly supportive of the president and argued he was simply doing what people elected him to do.
“He had a mandate in the election to do that,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who has argued against tariffs in the past, told NOTUS of the new tariffs. “I hope he’s successful in getting tariffs down around the world.”
A vast trade war with the world will complicate supply chains and may drive up the prices of many consumer goods. It could even plunge the economy into a recession. But as stock futures fell before Trump’s “declaration of economic independence” — and again rapidly following it — Republicans praised the effort.
“America will not be exploited by unfair trade practices anymore,” House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X. “These tariffs restore fair and reciprocal trade and level the playing field for American workers and innovators.”
Johnson had previously told reporters that Trump knows what he’s doing, and so do his voters.
“It’s not ‘blind faith’ — because they know his first term delivered us the greatest economy in American history,” he said.
In interviews on Wednesday, as Trump prepared to unilaterally impose his new tariffs, Republicans insisted their voters would also be in the president’s corner, even if they previously hoped he would bring down prices. Lawmakers also downplayed the economic shocks that could follow, and said Trump has every right to use emergency powers to wage a multi-front trade war without sign-off from Congress.
“The way he’s doing it, he doesn’t need the buy-in of Congress, at least not in the short to medium term. So it will really be his decision,” Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told NOTUS. “He seems like he has a lot of political will.”
Hawley added that people in his state “want a fair deal.”
“When they see the president saying, ‘We’re going to push for fairness,’ that’s well received,” he said.
“This is about getting fairness for our exports,” Sen. John Hoeven echoed.
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida also claimed that people in his state are responding to the tariffs with a simple message of support: “They like American jobs.”
Pressed on whether any companies in Florida have raised concerns to him about higher prices and how new tariffs would affect their businesses, Scott was noncommittal.
“Everybody calls me, but, you know, what I tell people is — they agree with me — we want more American jobs,” he said. “We’re going to get American jobs.”
Scott refused to weigh in on the possibility that prices could go up with Trump’s decision.
“The inflation is not caused by tariffs,” he said. “It’s caused by spending and fiscal policy.”
In fact, Scott told NOTUS, he hopes tariffs will bring prices down.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky doubts that. Paul introduced a measure alongside Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine to end Trump’s existing tariffs on Canadian products, which passed in a Senate vote on Wednesday evening 51-48. Four Republicans — Paul, as well as Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitch McConnell — supported it alongside Democrats. The resolution may have advanced in the Senate, but it is not expected to receive a vote in the House, and it would not affect Trump’s latest set of tariffs.
Paul said he isn’t going to stop pushing back.
“It’s a terrible, terrible idea,” he told NOTUS. “It’s not only that they’re bad economically. Historically, tariffs have decimated the Republican Party when they have supported them.”
“Tariffs are simply taxes,” Paul continued. “Republicans used to be, and conservatives in particular, used to be against new taxes.”
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas didn’t sound worried about that. He argued hitting countries with tariffs is only fair, if those countries already impose tariffs on American goods. “It’ll open up more markets,” he told reporters.
Others weren’t as optimistic.
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota joked that he hoped Trump’s “Liberation Day” wouldn’t turn into “Libation Day.”
“I hope people, when they hear about it, they go, OK, ‘This is OK,’ rather than going and feeling they have to drown their sorrows,” he told NOTUS.
Rounds said he’ll be watching how the markets respond — which is poorly, so far.
“We’ll see what it does to our farmers and ranchers in terms of their ability to market their products,” he said.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, also expressed concerns about Trump’s plan, although he voted against Paul’s measure to roll back tariffs on Canada. He said he wanted to give the White House the benefit of the doubt and would take time to consider whether the new tariffs were a “rational application” of trade moves to correct imbalances with other countries.
But, he said, “if we get it wrong, I’m going to speak out.”
“Specifically, if ag becomes a victim and industries that are very important in North Carolina, I’m going to point it out and advocate for change,” Tillis said. “The Article I branch needs to play a role in trade and economic policy.”
Some senators didn’t want to get into the specifics at all.
When asked if he’s worried about higher prices, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana responded: “I know you guys. You’ll run a headline saying I’m concerned. So I’m not going to answer that question.”
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Haley Byrd Wilt is a reporter at NOTUS.
Ben T.N. Mause, a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow, contributed to this story.