Some congressional Republicans are growing anxious about the markets and want more guidance from the White House about Trump’s long-term trade strategy.
During a House GOP conference call yesterday, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked if lawmakers could receive a detailed briefing from the White House about Trump’s tariffs, according to two sources on the call.
Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the Trump administration has been great to work with on a whole host of issues, but has been frustrated when it comes to how the White House has operated on tariffs, the sources said.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told members that he’d talk to Trump and vowed to arrange for someone in the administration to brief the conference, the sources said.
Members of Congress will also get a chance to publicly question a key Trump official about tariffs this week. U.S trade representative Jamieson Greer is scheduled testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday and a House panel Wednesday. Greer also held a private call for members of the House Ways and Means Committee last Friday, according to a GOP aide.
Still, many Republican lawmakers — who will face their constituents starting next week for a two-week recess break — feel like they have received little direction from the White House about Trump’s end-game on tariffs and have been frustrated by some of the mixed messaging coming out of the administration.
Johnson counseled members during Sunday’s conference call to trust the tariff process and stand by Trump’s trade policy, arguing he helped deliver a strong economy during his first term, according to the sources on the call.
But there are some signs of anxiety even among GOP leaders. Johnson has argued, both in a letter to his colleagues over the weekend and on the conference call, that they need to quickly coalesce around a budget resolution to unlock Trump’s legislative agenda because of the market turmoil.
