By Moira Gleason, The Daily Signal | March 05, 2025
As President Donald Trump continues to advocate targeted tariffs, some Republican congressmen say they support his tariffs on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico.
While Republicans believe in free trade, they want to give Trump space to maneuver, according to Rep. Derek Schmidt.
“The president was very clear with the American people he believes tariffs are a vital tool to restore American strength and trade, but also to defend other American interests,” Schmidt, R-Kan., told The Daily Signal Tuesday before Trump’s address to Congress.
“The people, having heard that argument, made the decision in November this is the direction we’re going. So I support the president following through on his promises.”
Trump implemented Tuesday a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and increased the tariff on imports from China to 20%. Energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% tariff. According to the White House, the new tariffs aim to combat threats to national security, including unchecked drug trafficking.
“Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries,” Trump said in his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the tariffs on Canada in a press release Tuesday, saying, “There is no justification for these actions.”
Trump also announced in his address reciprocal tariffs on foreign trade, effective April 2.
“Tariffs hurt everybody,” Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., told The Daily Signal in an interview before Trump’s Tuesday address. “They hurt us. They hurt our trading partners. They actually hurt our trading partners a great deal more.”
If the president is using tariffs in order to achieve higher objectives such as securing our borders … I think it’s worth it,” he added.
Tariffs are good for innovation and the long-term health of the economy, Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, said. Trump is making an investment in our system by trying to bring business back to the United States, he said.
“Innovation is the bottom line,” Owens told The Daily Signal. “We have not had very much innovation for so long in this part of our society.”
Through tariffs, Trump aims to address more than legal trade, Schmidt said. “He’s been very clear, as these tariffs have gone into effect, that his goal is not only trade related, but also making sure that our partners—our neighbors—deal more effectively with the flow of illicit trade,” Schmidt said, referring to the trafficking of the illegal drug fentanyl across the border.
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., reiterated that the end goal of these tariffs is to address the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the fentanyl crisis.
“I think, ultimately, we get to a point where Canada and Mexico will do what they need to do to help us interdict the flow of fentanyl,” Wittman said. “I don’t hold out the same hope for China.”
The president is right to say the country needs to elevate the impact on China for contributing to the fentanyl crisis and hurting the people of the United States, Wittman said.
“As I talk to folks across the district, it’s hard to find a family that hasn’t either indirectly or directly been impacted by fentanyl,” Wittman said. “I think he’s very serious about this, and people need to remember that’s what this is about, really.”
Owens said getting the economy back on track will entail a long process, but Trump has brought in a remarkable team to address the problem.
“He loves our country,” Owens said. “He wants our country to be respected. He wants people to prosper. But that being said, let’s give him a little leeway to go ahead and do what he has to do to make this work.”
Moira Gleason is a Daily Signal journalism intern.
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