Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Monday he’s taking a wait-and-see approach to President Trump’s order to place 25-percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and a 10-percent tariff on China, which sent stock markets dropping.
Thune said Republicans would wait to see what tariffs are actually imposed and noted that Trump has already reached a deal to pause the tariff on Mexico after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to send 10,000 troops to “reinforce” the border.
“We’ll see how long” they last, Thune told reporters when asked for his reaction to Trump’s latest tariff announcements.
“It sounds like the Mexican tariffs are already being paused,” he noted. “We’ll see what happens.”
Trump on Saturday signed off on tariffs on the three nations, which appear likely to set off a significant trade war. While the tariffs on Mexico were paused, those on Canada and China are still set to go into effect on Tuesday.
Senate Republicans talked about advancing a resolution of disapproval to block tariffs against Mexico during Trump’s first White House term.
Thune said at the time that his Senate GOP colleagues were “very concerned” about placing tariffs on imports from Mexico.
