Why it matters: Some members say their constituents, particularly those in agriculture and manufacturing, are already suffering under the tit-for-tat tariff escalation.
“They’re biting now. In the coming weeks, they’re going to bite even harder. You’re hearing every day it seems somebody’s scaling back production, moving production overseas,” said Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a frequent Trump critic.
Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who’s generally more supportive of Trump, said: “It’s like getting a rock in your windshield and then all of a sudden the glass starts to, you’ve got that crack in the windshield. And right now in farm country, we’re about to lose the windshield.”
And there’s not a lot of optimism about the long-term strategy. “There’s no end game that we can see,” said Flake. “Anybody who’s looking for some genius behind this curtain somehow is going to be disappointed.”
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