Shortly after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on most of his reciprocal tariffs, a key GOP senator suggested that chaos in the stock market had played a major role.
“I think that the marketplace has spooked them, and I’m glad that they backed off on the tariffs for 90 days,” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told reporters at the Capitol. “Hopefully, there’ll be some people talking some sense into the policy and being less extreme.”
Paul, a libertarian-minded Republican who’s a staunch advocate of free trade, had emerged as one of Trump’s biggest GOP critics on tariffs. Last week, he helped lead an effort to block Trump from imposing tariffs on Canada.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, stocks began to rebound.
“There should be a learning curve here. When you add a bunch of tariffs, you’ll lose 6 trillion in the marketplace. When you get rid of the tariffs, guess what? It comes bounding back,” Paul continued. “Tariffs are perceived by millions of people as being bad for the economy, so I hope there’s a lesson learned.”
“We’ve had chaos in the market for some time now,” Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota told reporters. “But certainly the markets, the way that they responded, have indicated that they liked it, and that they see a path forward.”
Other Republican senators largely cheered Trump’s announcement, which included lowering all reciprocal tariffs to 10% while increasing tariffs on Chinese goods up to 125% amid an ongoing tit-for-tat trade war.
“I like what he did on China,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama told reporters. “They don’t want to negotiate, but we’ll see how long they last without the American consumer.”
Asked by a reporter whether he thought Trump was making policy in a coherent way, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said: “It’s President Trump’s way, and nobody should be surprised.”
“I think it’s a win for America,” Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said. “And I think you have to conclude it’s a win for him.”
