News of President Donald Trump pulling back on sweeping tariffs Wednesday gave Republicans on Capitol Hill something to cheer for — quite literally.
The surprise announcement was applauded by Senate Republicans when the news was revealed during a closed-door lunch, according to several lawmakers in the room.
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“It really lightened up the lunch discussion,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said. “A lot of smiles.”
Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) described their moods as “relieved.”
The episode underscored the growing tensions in the party over Trump’s global trade war that cratered markets in recent days with nearly $6 trillion in losses, a plunge that immediately began to rebound on the news of a 90-day pause for dozens of countries involved in trade negotiations with the United States. Trump dropped the tariff level to a universal 10% for nonretaliating countries, including Canada and Mexico, but raised it to 125% for China.
The policy change caught some congressional Republicans off guard, in addition to Trump’s top trade official, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Trump revealed the tariff delay on his Truth Social media platform at the same time Greer was defending the president’s trade agenda to a congressional committee.
Trump and administration officials repeatedly insisted in recent days that a pause was not on the table. After his announcement, Trump told reporters he was mulling over the move for the past few days.
“I thought people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting a little bit yippy,” Trump said of his change in course. “You have to have flexibility.”
Some Republicans spun the news as part of Trump’s master plan to revitalize domestic manufacturing and diminish trade deficits with other countries. But anxiety and confusion persist in the party over Trump’s next move and his ultimate end goal.
“We’re still a long way from this thing being concluded. I don’t know his strategy,” Johnson said. “I really don’t know exactly what his end goal is, what he’s going to be satisfied with.”
Johnson later said he’s “sure the president has a strategy” but that he “can’t reveal that to anybody. It doesn’t work that way.”
“I think the sooner we get stability on the plan for moving forward with [tariffs], the better off the market’s going to look,” Rounds said. “I think the American people [will] have more confidence that we’re moving in the right direction.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) urged for a swift deal with some of America’s biggest trading partners to boost economic stability.
“[A pause] probably slows down any escalation. It doesn’t do much for certainty,” Tillis said. “If I were advising clients to move capital right now, why would any business advisor recommend to a board or to a CEO to deploy capital now when you don’t know what the long-term cost is going to be and the tax environment?”
The tariffs whiplash has only offered credence to a growing bipartisan pressure campaign on Capitol Hill for Congress to reassert its authority over such import taxes. Republicans have also lobbied Trump and White House officials against tariffs by relaying the possible economic impacts to their states, particularly for agriculture.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who’s leading a bipartisan bill to weaken presidential tariff power, said he did not speak with Trump about the 90-day pause but was certain that the president has been “following what I’ve been doing.”
“We’ll see exactly what the effect is,” Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO), who’s sponsored the House companion bill to Grassley’s, said of the pause. “Part of the concern that I have is select ability to plan and prepare.”
Trump’s latest tariff position was preceded by the most significant policy pushback from congressional Republicans of his second term, offering a glimpse into the delicate approach lawmakers have taken that could be recycled during future high-stakes disputes.
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Despite the measured resistance, Republicans made clear they’re ready to weather more possible turbulence sparked by Trump’s trade policies.
“From the standpoint of what the intention was — forcing these countries that have had significantly higher tariffs on U.S. goods, significantly higher barriers to entry, price controls — it was an effective negotiating tool,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said.