Rand Paul's advice to Trump on tariffs: 'The more we trade ... the less we fight'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) spoke out against President Trump’s imbalance on tariffs arguing that established levies have kept the world a stable place with a secure market.

“International trade since World War II has made us phenomenally rich. President Trump paints it another way,” Paul said during a Sunday interview with radio host John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM’s “The Cats Roundtable.” 

“He says, ‘We’ve been taken advantage of.’ But I really strongly disagree because trade has made us so rich and really has made the world a better place. The more we trade … the less we fight.”

Trump made headlines this week as he announced sweeping tariffs on foreign-made cars and auto parts striking counterparts in China, Japan and Canada. 

International leaders have promised to hit back with similar trade policies while bracing for the Republican administration’s April 2 date slated for an announcement on reciprocal tariffs. 

Paul said his own constituents have opposed the encroaching tariff war citing the threat of skyrocketing prices for business owners and consumers as a reason for angst.

“I live in a state where we have three of the big automobile manufacturers. They’re all opposed to the tariffs, and I think that it would hurt them. The bourbon industry in Kentucky, they don’t like the tariffs,” Paul said.

I’ve got farmers, they don’t like the tariffs. I really don’t have any organized business interests in my state that think they’re a good idea. This is something that I just disagree with President Trump on,” he added.

Republican lawmakers have spoken out against the administration’s new regulations for imports and exports as they seek to funnel change.

“The Canadian tariffs will definitely have a detrimental impact on the economy of Maine and on border communities in particular,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said. “We have, for example, a major paper mill in northern Maine right on the border that gets its pulp from Canada.”

“That mill alone, which is by far the biggest employer in the region, employs 510 people directly. I’ve talked to the owner of that mill: The imposition of a 25-percent tariff could be devastating,” she warned.

Despite disgruntled GOP members, Trump has argued his policies will provide financial benefits to all Americans in the long run.

“This will be the Golden Age of America! Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!),” the president wrote on Truth Social last month. 

“But we will make America great again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid,” he continued at the time. “We are a country that is now being run with common sense — and the results will be spectacular!!!”