On Tuesday, the United States Senate Committee on Finance met to question Jamieson Greer, Donald Trump’s Trade Representative. The subject – a masterpiece of senatorial understatement and restraint – was ‘The President’s 2025 Trade Policy Agenda‘. What it meant, of course, was the sweeping and stringent tariffs unveiled by the President in the shabbily glitzy game show atmosphere of ‘Liberation Day’ the week before.
The extent of the new tariff regime has unsettled many congressional Republicans. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin noted to Greer: ‘We want fair trade, but I hope you reocgnise tariffs are a double-edged sword, I would argue, a somewhat blunt instrument’. James Lankford of Oklahoma cautioned that many businesses ‘don’t have a lot of options’ to source certain products domestically.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina admitted he did not understand the strategy behind the new tariff system, telling Greer bluntly: ‘I’m just trying to figure out whose throat I get to choke if it’s wrong’.
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