Free trade advocates in the Republican Party's old guard piled on Donald Trump as the stock market tumbled sharply downwards on Thursday in response to the White House's tariff plan.
Wednesday's announcement of across-the-board tariffs on nearly all countries that export goods to the US sent markets spiraling. The Dow closed down more than 1,600 points.
The first US job losses from import tariff hikes were announced in Michigan and Indiana, where automaker Stellantis said hundreds of "temporary" layoffs were due to idling production facilities in Mexico and Canada.
Signs of the backlash from within conservative circles were already evident Wednesday afternoon as a handful of GOP senators, including former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, sided with Democrats to condemn the president's trade action.
On Thursday, the rest of the center-right free trade bloc turned on Trump, too.
"[I]f the response is widespread retaliation, the result could be shrinking world trade and slower growth, recession, or worse," the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote. "There will certainly be higher costs for American consumers and businesses."
On The Bulwark's YouTube channel, host Jonathan Last quipped: "The woke socialist markets do not seem to appreciate the brilliance of Trump's beautiful, very strong tariffs."
If the president doesn't get his fill of stock market losses and the resulting hand-wringing this week, he needs not fret.
"I expect the fallout to continue into next week, as everyone is trying to assess what the effect will be on final consumer prices," warned Michael Tamvakis, economist with City St George's, University of London.
That raises a pair of questions: How long does the president plan to make Republican skeptics of his plan wait for the economy to improve? And will that cause problems for the GOP's midterm campaign effort?
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