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Dems to Use Trump Tariffs Against GOP 03/20 06:14
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Less than a week after the Supreme Court struck down
President Donald Trump's global tariffs, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul listened as
one of the plaintiffs in the case recounted the financial toll of the levies on
his wine importing business.
"This is a heavy tax and you have to pay it up front," Victor Schwartz, the
owner of VOS Selections, told Hochul as they walked alongside bottles of wine
he imports from 16 countries.
As Hochul seeks reelection this year, she says the impact of Trump's tariffs
is a "centerpiece" of her message. She has pressed the administration to issue
a $13.5 billion tariff refund to New Yorkers following the Supreme Court
decision. And she released an ad this week criticizing her Republican
challenger, Bruce Blakeman, for supporting the levies and attending the White
House event where Trump unveiled them with a massive board listing the rate for
each country.
"This is a lethal issue for Republicans this November," Hochul said in an
interview. "You can be sure we're going to make sure people know who did this
to them."
She's not alone. Democrats running for governor across the country are
making tariffs central to their pitch to voters. They're betting that in an
election year dominated by issues ranging from immigration to the war in Iran,
rising costs connected to the tariffs will be a motivating issue for many
voters.
"That picture of (Trump) with the tariff board is going to be front and
center in every single one of our campaigns," Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky,
who is leading the Democratic Governors Association this year, said in an
interview.
White House spokesman Kush Desai countered that "what Democrats are really
running against are President Trump's Most-Favored-Nations deals to slash
prescription drug prices by up to 90 percent, trillions in investments to bring
manufacturing back to America, and new trade deals that level the playing field
for American workers."
"All of these historic victories were possible because of tariffs."
This is a challenging election year for the GOP
Republicans are entering a challenging election year as they contend with
voter anxiety around spiking prices -- an issue Trump pledged to fix during his
2024 campaign -- and the record of a president's party losing ground during the
midterms.
Much of the focus has been on Congress, where Democrats are just a few seats
shy of taking the House majority. But the party is also aiming to regain ground
outside Washington as they hope to hold onto governorships in Arizona, Michigan
and Wisconsin and eye GOP-held seats in Nevada, Georgia and Iowa.
In interviews this week, Democrats running in some of those states said
tariffs and the broader issue of affordability will be at the forefront of
their agenda.
In Nevada, state Attorney General Aaron Ford sued the administration over
its initial round of tariffs and is suing again as Trump seeks to revive them.
As he seeks the Democratic nomination to take on Republican incumbent Gov. Joe
Lombardo, Ford called the tariffs "illegal" and blamed them for restaurant
closures and fewer visitors to his tourism-dependent state.
"Tariffs are at the very top of the conversation because Nevadans every
single day are feeling the impacts," Ford said.
In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is seeking reelection in a state
Trump won by more than 5 percentage points in 2024 with a focus on costs. She
criticized GOP Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert, who are vying for the
nomination to challenge her, for "cheering on these reckless tariffs." Both
lawmakers voted against a measure last month to end the national emergency
Trump declared to impose tariffs on Canada.
Hobbs said the cost concern was about more than tariffs, noting Medicaid
cuts, rising health costs and a spike in gas prices in the wake of the war in
Iran.
"They're being hit everywhere," she said.
Republicans try to turn affordability concerns back on Democrats
Republicans largely reject the tariff criticism and are trying to turn the
anxiety about affordability back on Democrats, especially in high-cost states
where they already govern. Blakeman, for instance, said in a statement that
Hochul is "solely responsible for the affordability crisis in New York, with
crushing electric bills, soaring insurance rates and the highest taxes in
America."
In an interview, Schweikert argued that "it was only a few years ago in a
previous administration that the Democrats actually liked tariffs. So this
seems to be if Trump's for it, they're against it."
Trump, for his part, hasn't given up on the tariffs. After calling the
Supreme Court's decision " unfortunate," his administration is scrambling to
find ways to revive the levies. The president has already announced a 10%
tariff using a different mechanism, a move that's facing legal challenges, and
wants to further raise tariffs to 15%.
But Trump's prediction of a manufacturing renaissance that would result from
companies making more products in the U.S. to avoid tariffs has not
materialized. During the first year of his second term, 98,000 manufacturing
jobs were lost. Revenue from tariffs is doing little to reduce the federal
deficit, which is projected to climb over the next decade.
Polling suggests unease about the dramatic way Trump has imposed the levies.
In January, before the Supreme Court's ruling, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults said
Trump went too far in imposing new tariffs and using presidential power, an
AP-NORC poll found.
A balancing act for the GOP
Now Republicans are trying to balance acknowledging the public's concern
without antagonizing Trump, who remains popular among the GOP base.
Lombardo's response to a question about tariffs last year in a local
television interview has given Democrats persistent fodder. The governor said,
"We need to maybe feel a little pain in the short term and hopefully in the
long term it's a huge benefit for us."
"We're feeling it," Ford said of the pain, "and Nevadans are ready for new
leadership."
In a statement, Drew Galang, Lombardo's communications director, said that
"while the governor cannot control federal trade policy, he has prioritized
policies to drive growth in Nevada -- diversifying the state's economy, cutting
red tape, and attracting billions of dollars of business investments."
The competing pressure on Lombardo was on display in a letter he sent to
Trump last year, urging the president to lift tariffs on lithium. He argued
that since "domestic processing is not yet a viable option, the current
environment poses a serious risk to jobs in Nevada and across the country."
But he didn't reject Trump's overall tariff push, expressing "sincere
appreciation for your efforts to return manufacturing jobs back to United
States soil."
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