Wall Street Journal: ‘Smart play’ would have been for Trump to forgo, pause new tariffs

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board criticized President Trump’s trade policies earlier this week, mocking his reaction to a Supreme Court ruling last week that went against his sweeping tariffs on foreign goods.

“Well, that will show the Supreme Court — or something. President Trump is reacting to his Friday tariff defeat not by calming the trade waters but by roiling them further,” the board wrote in a piece published Monday. “He is aiming in fury at the Supreme Court, but he will end up hitting the economy and Republicans in Congress.”

After the nation’s highest court ruled against his use of emergency import taxes, Trump railed against the justices and announced a new 10 percent tariff on all goods not covered by current exemptions.

Trump’s tariff policies and how to respond to the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling is posing a major challenge for Republicans on Capitol Hill, some of whom have cast doubt on the downstream impact of the president’s economic agenda on consumers.

“The smart play after his legal defeat would be to take an off-ramp and forgo or pause new tariffs,” the Journal wrote. “The larger reality is that Mr. Trump is so bull-headed about tariffs that he’s going to re-impose them any way he can.”

The president’s new tariffs will “create more uncertainty for business, at least for a while,” the newspaper argued, adding “with the midterm elections coming soon, this timing is fraught for Republicans.”

“This is a political bait and switch, and it also delays refunds that could go to more productive economic uses,” it wrote. “Mr. Trump is so ideologically fixated on tariffs that he is willing to bet his Presidency on them. This looks increasingly like a losing wager for Republicans.”

Their analysis also comes as the president is set to give his annual State of the Union address before lawmakers Tuesday evening, which Trump has claimed will be a “long” speech.