A newly elected Republican senator has admitted that Donald Trump’s tariffs will “absolutely” lead to “short-term pain” for American consumers—but says he supports the president’s plans anyway.
Since assuming office in January Trump has imposed a wide-ranging tariffs on foreign imports, particularly those from China, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Further import taxes are set to be unveiled by the president in April, which will see the price of imports from the affected countries rise sharply as a result, with American consumers forced to pay extra.
Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana said that even though people in his home state will be left worse off by the tariffs, it is a price he is willing to pay for “long-term gain”.
“I was looking at the numbers—95 percent of Montana’s imported goods come from Canada, Mexico, and China,” Collins told the senator on Monday night. “Is this going to hurt people in your state?”
“There’s absolutely gonna be short-term pain,” responded Sheehy, a former Navy Seal who defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Tester in last November’s election.
“The president’s been clear about that. Everyone has. I mean, if you’re gonna remodel your house to make it better in the end, it’s gonna be really annoying in the short term when your house is getting remodeled and there’s drywall dust everywhere and there’s workers in your living room. The reality is that remodel has gotta happen in order to make things stronger and more stable on the back end.”
Countries have spent decades relying on the American workforce and economy to do their jobs for them, he added, and that it was time to “rebalance the tables”.
Sheehy said that the tariffs had prompted companies to reinvest in the U.S., which Collins countered by stating that there were many companies doing the exact opposite and waiting to see what the policies were before investing.
“There’s not a lot of mergers or anything happening because people are nervous about this” she told the senator. “You liken this to a remodel. Sometimes those take longer than you plan for. I mean, if you’re an American and you’re waiting to see, what does ‘short-term pain’ mean? I mean, how long do you expect that to last?”
Sheehy responded by blaming the media for fanning flames of uncertainty around President Trump’s agenda, which Collins interjected to say was shared by businesses.
“Uh, sure,” he said. “But, you know, the media is helping with that. I mean, business uncertainty responds to public market sentiment. You know, there wasn’t nearly as much pearl-clutching when we had record inflation, record interest rates, record cost-of-good increases for middle-class families over the last three and a half years.”
Trump’s latest tariffs are set to be unveiled on April 2, with critics warning that the ever-escalating rhetoric could risk an all-out trade war.
But the president brushed off criticism and said he would be “very kind” to trading partners while promising a “Liberation Day” for the U.S., which he claims has been “ripped off by every country in the world”.
