Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday called on President Donald Trump to resolve the ongoing trade disputes with China and other countries as the tit-for-tat tariffs are endangering the “red hot” U.S. economy.
“The tariffs are beginning to have some impact in a negative way so I hope that we make some progress quickly on some of these other fronts, in particular with China.”
McConnell said he agrees with Trump that the U.S. must have a stronger position in regards to trade, but he also voiced concern about the growing impact tariffs are having on citizens, particularly in his home state of Kentucky, in an interview with Reuters.
Per Reuters:
“The tariffs are beginning to have some impact in a negative way so I hope that we make some progress quickly on some of these other fronts, in particular with China,” McConnell told the roundtable discussion with Reuters journalists, though he said of the overall U.S. economy: “I think it’s red hot.”
McConnell doesn’t want to see the administration impose tariffs up to 25 percent on imported cars and SUVs, which are raising the ire of automakers including Toyota, which builds the Camry at a plant in Georgetown, Kentucky.
“I hope that we end up in a better place sooner and don’t have to go down that path” of additional tariffs on autos, McConnell said.
Republicans generally embrace international free trade agreements but that has changed under Trump, who wields tariffs like a stick to force other countries to give the U.S. better deals.
The Trump administration has already imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, and Trump levied 10 percent tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports that rises to 25 percent on Jan. 1.
The EU has imposed tariffs on Kentucky bourbon, while China has hit U.S. farmers with tariffs on soybeans.
“If the end result of this is better trading relationships with all of these countries, particularly if it happens sooner rather than later, I think it would be great,” McConnell said.
McConnell went on to say it’s “highly unlikely” Congress will pursue legislation limiting presidential tariff powers, and that Congress has largely given “pretty much all the ball control on trade” to the White House in the past.
McConnell said China “has been eating our lunch for years” on trade, adding that if Trump can reach a better deal on trade with Beijing than the status quo “that would be a big step forward.” McConnell said he hopes “we can end up sooner rather than later with a better relationship with China on the commercial side.”
McConnell also said Congress will wait until 2019 to vote whether to approve the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Trump negotiated as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement.