Trump-Backing GOP Governor Blasts President on Trade - and Warns of Massive Job Losses
President Donald Trump risks hurting many of his own voters as he digs in on his mercantilist trade policies, and even friendly GOP politicians are starting to call him out on it.
Texas Gov. Gary Abbott blasted the president's policy of slapping tariffs on foreign goods — which are simply import taxes that hit American consumers — saying that the policy will hurt residents of his state.
Steel and aluminum are two of the main industries Trump is attempting to protect with his tariffs, but Abbott says that the policy isn't worth the cost.
"Our country's steel and aluminum workers are a vital part of the national workforce, and creating jobs in that industry must be a top priority," he said in a letter to the president, as the Texas Tribune first reported. "But attempting to protect these jobs through the new tariffs could jeopardize the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Texans and other Americans employed in the oil and gas industry."
Economists across the board have dismissed Trump's approach to trade as self-defeating, and international relations experts point out that Trump has done everything he can to alienate many of our allies, further weakening his hand in negotiations.
"The administration has no idea what it’s doing" when it comes to trade, said economist Paul Krugman in a recent op-ed.
"Other countries won’t quickly give in to U.S. demands, in part because those demands are incoherent — Trump is demanding that Europe end the 'horrific' tariffs it doesn’t actually impose, while the Chinese can’t even figure out what the Trump administration wants, with officials calling America 'capricious,'" Krugman wrote. "Add in the enormous amount of ill will Trump has generated around the world, and the idea that America is going to get major concessions anytime soon is deeply implausible."
