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GOP lawmakers exhale deeply after Trump backtracks on trade war

12 3
10.04.2025

Republican senators breathed out a sigh of relief when they found out at a lunch meeting Wednesday that President Trump announced he would drop tariffs on most foreign trading partners for 90 days, sending the stock market shooting up after a week of turmoil and steep losses.

Many of them were hearing a rising chorus of complaints from farmers, small-business owners and other constituents while also watching their retirement accounts sink in value along with those of millions of other Americans.

“Heard the stock market shot up like a rocket!” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), emerging from the GOP lunch meeting.

“It seems pretty clear that the Treasury secretary has won the argument that this ought to be about negotiating and not about generating revenue,” he said, referring to the tug-of-war between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro over the driving aim of Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

While Bessent said he was open to negotiation, Navarro declared “this is not a negotiation” in a Financial Times op-ed.

Cornyn said Trump’s announcement says “for the next 90 days, there will be stability, and I think that’s what a lot of people are looking for.

He said even members of Congress aren’t immune from the extreme market turmoil that drained away as much as 20 percent of the value of retirement accounts in a matter of days.

“I think most members of Congress have at least mutual funds,” Cornyn said. “I don’t own individual stocks, but I do have like an IRA and things like that. I think everybody can identify with that going........

© The Hill