Jack Crowe writes at National Review Online about U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s active opposition to President Trump’s planned tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
Speaker Paul Ryan’s office sent a mass email to reporters Monday, highlighting the stock-market uncertainty that followed President Donald Trump’s “trade war” rhetoric and recent tariff announcement.
Ryan’s spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, followed up the email by issuing a statement strongly condemning Trump’s protectionist instincts.
“We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan. The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize those gains,” Strong said in the statement.
Trump, who broke with decades of Republican orthodoxy by advocating steel tariffs and other antagonistic trade practices on the campaign trail, resumed his calls for tariffs last week. …
… Ryan is joined in his opposition by traditional conservatives such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who has argued that tariffs would do little to restrain China and much to disrupt long-held alliances.
