President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on nearly all goods imported into the U.S. Wednesday.
The tariffs will begin at a baseline of 10%, but many countries with relatively large trade deficits will see higher rates due to reciprocal tariffs, which will tax their imports to the U.S. at roughly half the rate of their own tariffs on U.S. goods.
The orders also begin a 25% tariff on foreign-made automobiles imported to the U.S.
Reaction on Capitol Hill has been mixed. Republicans have largely backed President Trump's plans, or are willing to allow him the chance to to see how the measures play out.
"The experts think they're always right," Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy told reporters earlier on Wednesday. "They're almost always wrong. Some of these guys I've listened to for the last two weeks, and gals, talking about what the impact on the economy is. I know them. I've read their materials. I've looked at their past predictions. They make those late-night psychic hotlines look respectable."
"Nobody knows. Nobody knows. But we'll find out pretty soon," he said.
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But there is some pushback. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul spoke on the Senate Floor Wednesday shortly before President Trump's tariffs announcement, warning that the emergency declaration used to implement the tariffs represented executive overreach.
"You can't have a country ruled by emergency. You can't have a country without a separation of powers, without checks and balances," he said.
"Tariffs are a terrible mistake. They don't work, they will lead to higher prices, they are a tax and they have historically been bad for our economy."
A number of Senate Republicans voted along with all Democrats in the chamber Wednesday night to pass a measure intended to stop the emergency declaration President Trump declared concerning fentanyl trafficking from Canada, which formed the basis of new tariffs on the country.
The vote passed 51-48, but it has little chance of making it to the House floor for a vote.
Scripps News spoke with Delaware's Democratic Governor Matt Meyer after the president's announcement.
"A tariff is a tax," Gov. Meyer said. "The first sentence defining tariff in any dictionary. This is a 10% tax on every American. It makes no sense. It's an economic theory that was disproven 95 years ago when Smoot-Hawley was passed. Look back in 1930. Herbert Hoover, it was his great policy. What did it lead to? The Great Depression."
"It's not a matter of which sector is going to see it and which sector is not going to see it. The president was clear. This is a tax on everyone."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
