Posted on 03/10/2025 6:42:02 AM PDT by RandFan
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he’s hearing a deluge of complaints from business leaders in Kentucky about the potential impact of Trump’s trade policies on the local economy.
“I have every major industry in Kentucky lobbying me against them: the cargo shippers, the farmers, the bourbon manufacturers, the homebuilders, the home sellers — you name it — fence manufacturers,” Paul told The Hill.
“The bourbon industry says they’re still hurt from the retaliatory tariffs” during Trump’s first term, he said. “So do the farmers.”
He said the federal government had to pay $20 billion to $30 billion in the “last administration” to farmers to mitigate the economic impact of tariffs.
“It shows the fallacy of believing in a policy of tariffs if you immediately have to borrow a bunch of money and give it to the people your hurt,” he said. “There need to be Republicans who are still extolling the benefits of international trade.”
One Republican senator who requested anonymity to speak with The Hill expressed fear that Republicans will suffer a political backlash if the economy slumps, predicting that Trump’s tariff threats coupled with tech mogul Elon Musk’s push to cut federal spending will get the blame.
“People are concerned that we’re about to take a hit in the stock market,” the senator said of fears shared by fellow GOP senators about the direction of the economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Duh!
At The moment the Stock market is in a downward slump.
It was heavily overpriced from November imo. Has any spending bill been passed yet? Terrifs are being worked through the Stock Market right now.
Rand Paul is opposed to tariffs because he doesn’t like taxes. Susan Collins is opposed to tariffs because she doesn’t like Trump.
Another bad look for Rand.
(They so have him by the short hairies at this point!)
The hill......always a wet blanket
Correct. A perfect (imperfect?) storm.
Rand has a jackass in Kentucky that’s been on the take for years that he had to call leader..
A main problem for Americans problems lie with the help of a jackass from Kentucky..
Tell Kentuckians that
let it happen, right before the deadline the art of the deal is realized by these pukes and thier supporters. Its a tactic to make them bend
Send the country into potential recession over a fentanyl problem that is actually improving (in terms of fewer ODs) ?? It’s a position that needs to be explained way beyond Kentucky and Rand Paul.
So some Divas in the Republican Party are more worried about American businesses having to tightening their belts for a while to end up with a more equitable US trade balance than they are with countries screwing us with unfair tariffs.
I could wish that Rand would stick to Fauci and see him jailed.
Tariffs are a legitimate force of government and they are being used against us. What Fauci was up to with America’s enemies in China, was not.
Perhaps Rand is just a grand-stander, like his father.
Only things going up are gold...silver...lead and brass
Does Canada’s tariffs against us hurt Canada?
So some Divas in the Republican Party are more worried about American businesses having to tightening their belts for a while to end up with a more equitable US trade balance than they are with countries screwing us with unfair tariffs.
/s
That's not just about trade balance, it's about national security. Trade deficits like that exist because we have off-shored way too many manufacturing jobs. Our manufacturing base also affects our self-defense readiness. IMHO these kinds of trade deficits cannot be sustained without significant negative effects to our nation.
You can't fix this without affecting some exports, and if we have to subsidize some of those over the short-term to fix the larger problem then that's what we'll have to do. If a total hands off ‘free trade’ approach always worked, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. It's hard to compete on equal footing with nations that control workers wages and that target subsidies in order to overtake a competitors markets (e.g. China's subsidies).
Trumps been in office for not even 2 months. It's way too early for people to start getting all wobbly about moves he's making.
You’re spot on.
It hurts Canadians wanting to buy, now, more expensive goods.
The Republicans need to tell the whiners in their states to stop watching too much new on the boob tube. Hell, even FOX news who was totally giddy after Trump won the election has already swung back to the left Uncle Remus Al Green.
Hakeem Skyhook announced this morning that the GOOBERs are “on the run” back to the Bigtime Spending Status Quo Gubmint.
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