Dems walk fine line on auto tariffs

Trump has done it again.  It's not very surprising that the UAW welcomes the tariffs on imported automobiles.  Organized labor has typically endorsed tariffs as a means of supporting American workers.

Democrats are tying themselves in knots trying to find a message.  Do Democrats stand with stock traders or with union workers?  Will Democrats give preferential treatment to foreigners using alliances as an excuse?  On which side of the border will Democrats plant their flag?

Donald Trump is doing to Democrats what Lyndon Johnson did to Republicans.  Naturally Reagan Republicans oppose any sort of tax on domestic or foreign business.  And those Reagan Republicans are searching for alliances to oppose Trump's economic policies.  In case no one has noticed, Trump has been forcing Reagan Republicans to become new Democrats.  Time will tell if Democratic calls for tax increases will be flipped on its head.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Donald Trump’s tariffs are jamming Democrats.

Desperate to win back working-class voters, Democrats in the Rust Belt and beyond on Thursday were walking a fine line following the president’s announcement that he will impose an additional 25 percent tariff on imported cars and auto parts. Many are loath to criticize Trump’s protectionist policies and risk the ire of their blue-collar base, even if they cast his deployment of tariffs as haphazard and warned they could spike prices.

Tariffs are “a tool, just like fire,” said Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, adding that she is reserving judgement on topic. “You can barbecue with it, or you can burn your house down, depending on how you use it.”

For Democrats, that’s the problem. While they are unified against much of Trump’s agenda, his use of tariffs has fractured the left.

“The real-world impact is that some of our everyday goods like groceries will see a rise in cost because of these tariffs,” said Michigan state Sen. Darrin Camilleri, who represents manufacturing-rich Downriver, a region of metropolitan Detroit. “Those costs will go up because of tariffs.”

But, he added, “it is strategically important that we’re fighting back against these big corporations that have been shipping our jobs to other places.”

The fault line in the party runs all the way through its possible 2028 presidential primary contenders. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has warned they are not a “one size fits all” solution, and should not “punish our closest trading partners.” Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has called them a “tax.” And Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said that a trade war could raise “prices at the grocery store, gas pump and more.”

But some so-called “New Economic Patriots” in the party, like Rep. Ro Khanna of California, support targeted tariffs as a way to bring manufacturing jobs back to America.

“While I oppose Trump’s blanket and capricious tariffs on allies, I support his targeted tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos and his initiative to renegotiate NAFTA and the USMCA,” Khanna told POLITICO. “But targeted tariffs must be combined with government procurement policies and government financing for new factories and workforce development. We also must support collective bargaining, higher worker pay and workers getting some stock ownership in a modern age.”

Khanna’s position is not broadly shared by his colleagues. But even Hill Democrats who are largely opposed to Trump’s moves insist they aren’t categorically opposed to tariffs.

“I would like to see a more comprehensive, thoughtful tariff policy that’s strategic, rather than playing whac-a-mole and seeing you know who he can threaten one day to the next,” Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio). “Because what is happening now is not helping the American public and is making costs go up.”

Said Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.): “Blanketed tariffs are a bad thing. If they’re strategic, then we have to be able to utilize them.”

On Thursday, some on the left pushed out new Democratic polling in an effort to paint Trump’s move as unpopular. A Navigator poll of 1,000 registered voters showed 53 percent had a negative view of tariffs, with 30 percent in favor and 17 percent undecided. The poll, which was conducted from March 13-17 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent, took place before Trump announced the auto tariffs.

That polling is not out of line with public surveys. A number of polls from March showed that the public is generally skeptical of tariffs. In a CNN poll from earlier this month, 61 percent of voters did not approve of Trump’s tariffs.

As they absorbed the fallout from Trump’s announcement, which will likely drive up domestic car prices, some Democrats on Thursday hammered on the expected costs.

“I don’t think we’re seeing any of the tariffs that Trump has proposed to be good for our economy, for everyday working people, I think it’s going to come back and bite us in our ass, and we’re seeing that when you look at the economy, when you look at the stock market,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio. “We know that the tariffs are not good for hard working American people.”

Across the border from Ohio, in Michigan, Sarah Anthony, a Democratic state senator who is mulling a run for higher office, piled on, suggesting tariffs would hurt not just Michigan’s auto industry, but also ripple through other parts of the economy.

“Supply chains are going to be impacted,” she said. “I feel as though the Trump administration never thinks about the short- and long-term impacts. They just think about the next press hit, the next thing that makes them look like a renegade.”

But Democrats have reason to be cautious, especially after Trump made inroads with blue-collar workers in battleground states in the upper Midwest. Shawn Fain, the United Auto Workers president who called Trump a “scab” during last year’s presidential campaign, came out in support of the tariffs, praising Trump for “stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades.”

It’s clearly something that Democrats are tracking. On Thursday, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), whose district includes Rochester, criticized the administration’s deployment of tariffs, saying, “There’s no theory, there’s no plan, there’s no strategy.”

But he didn’t discount the idea of tariffs entirely. He said, “I think sometimes tariffs are appropriate, but it’s on a case by case basis, and it certainly I would do typically as a last resort.”

Or as Sykes put it, “We have to make sure that auto production is not disrupted and American workers aren’t disrupted. So what I’m asking from the tariffs and the executive and his plan is to make sure that it’s strategic and that we continue to focus on domestic manufacturing and do everything we can to lower costs.”

Andrew Howard contributed to this report.