Cruz: High tariffs 'in perpetuity' would not be good economic policy

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday warned that if President Trump’s tariffs on trading partners last for months it will hurt the economy and American consumers.

“I think it is a mistake to assume that we will have high tariffs in perpetuity. I don’t think that would be good economic policy. I am not a fan of tariffs,” Cruz told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow.

Cruz said “time is going to tell in the next month or two or three what happens.”

He said Trump’s aggressive trade policies could be a success, but he also warned they might backfire on the U.S. economy.

“If the result of yesterday’s announcement is a lot of our trading partners across the globe dramatically reduce the tariffs they charge on U.S. goods and services and the consequence of that is the U.S. government dramatically cuts the tariffs that were announced yesterday, that would be a great outcome. That would be good for America,” he said.

“If the result is our trading partners jack up their tariffs and we have high tariffs everywhere, I think that is a bad outcome for America. Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and I’m not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers,” he added.

“My hope is these tariffs are short-lived and they serve as leverage to lower tariffs across the globe,” he said.

Cruz’s remarks reflect brewing concern on Capitol Hill over Trump’s announcement that he would hit countries across the globe with reciprocal tariffs, imposing a 20-percent tariff on imports from the European Union, a 24-percent tariff on goods from Japan and a 32-percent tariff on imports from South Korea.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, on Thursday introduced legislation requiring Congress to pass a joint resolution of approval within 60 days of new tariffs being announced, otherwise they would expire.

Four Republican senators — Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Mo.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) — voted Wednesday for a resolution to undo Trump’s 25-percent tariff on Canada, as well as his administration’s 10-percent tariff on Canadian energy imports.

The resolution passed by a vote of 51-48. All Democrats voted for it.