GOP Sen Sasse: Senior People in White House ‘Know’ Tariffs Are ‘a Really Dumb Policy’

Thursday on “CBS This Morning,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said “most senior people in the White House” think that President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum is “really dumb policy.”

Sasse said, “For decades the Congress has punted lots of its responsibilities and authorities to the executive branch and regardless of whether you’re a Republican or Democrat that’s a bad idea for public deliberation. Right now we don’t have very clear understanding in the country about what’s happening in our economy. These tariffs are a terrible idea, but they’re not just a terrible idea this week or this month, but they’re a terrible idea because it doesn’t make sense of where we are in economic history. Tariffs always hurt us. Ultimately nobody ever wins a trade war. Both sides lose a trade war. Trade is indisputably good for America, it’s good for customers on both sides of every trading relationship, and all of our trade deals have been on net good for America in terms of job creation, and we need to do a better job of explaining what happens when there’s more trade. We need more trade and America wins.

He continued, “A lot of time trade deficits on a bilateral basis are misunderstood. I have a trade deficit with the grocery store. They supply a bunch of good stuff I want, and I give them my money, and that circulates back into the economy. Here’s what happens when you have more trade. When you have more trade, it means American families are buying more high quality or low cost or usually both stuff from some trading partner on the other side of a border.”

He added, “So there’s a big fight happening inside the administration right now because most senior people in the White House know that this is a really dumb policy and the American people, the forgotten workers of even the Rust Belt states they don’t want to be drafted and be casualties in a stupid trade war. There are a bunch of people inside the administration trying to talk the president out of this.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN