President-elect Donald Trump is lobbying behind the scenes to ease or change his tariff plans, but his will is strong, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 15th.
According to the report, corporate executives are hiring lobbying firms and contacting Trump’s aides to find ways to avoid the tariffs that the president-elect has promised so far and are trying to influence the president-elect’s decisions. However, since the president-elect generally makes decisions alone, there is little room for aides to intervene, and the Trump team is telling the consultants hired by companies that there is no way to persuade the president-elect otherwise, the WSJ reported.
One lobbyist who served in Trump’s first term warns his clients to take Trump’s word on tariffs at face value, explaining that there are little his consultants can do to dissuade the president-elect, the WSJ reported. The president-elect tends to announce his tariff ideas late in the day, often on social media, without giving advance notice even to his closest advisers, the sources said.
On March 25, Trump took to his social media account, Truth Social, to threaten a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada if they did not do more to stop migrants and drugs from flowing into the United States. He also posted that he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on China if they did not stop the opioid fentanyl from flowing into the United States.
On March 30, he warned that he would impose a 100 percent tariff on the BRICS, a group of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, if they threatened the dollar’s hegemony. Although Trump discussed the tariff idea with his aides, including Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent, the Journal reported that they had little advance notice that Trump would share his plans on social media. Rubio knew about the BRICs tariffs before Trump posted about them on social media, but he did not have enough advance notice about the Mexico, Canada and China tariffs.
Some companies and Republican politicians expect that President-elect Trump will only use tariffs as a negotiating tactic to pressure other countries into making concessions and will not actually impose high tariffs.
Senator Tom Cotton, a Trump ally, recently observed at an event hosted by the WSJ that President-elect Trump may accept a deal that does not impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico. However, he explained that President-elect Trump will take a harder line on China because of the economic and security threats it poses to the United States.
The WSJ reported that companies are hiring well-connected lobbying firms to convey their positions to the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration, and that LG Electronics’ U.S. subsidiary recently signed a contract with the lobbying firm Capital Council to lobby on trade and supply chain issues.
Semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries also hired lobbying firm Cozen O’Connor, and Constellation Brands, a company that makes beer in Mexico and imports it to the U.S., signed a contract with a consulting firm close to the Republican Party after President-elect Trump announced his plan to impose tariffs on Mexico.