Wyden: Grass Roots Pressure Will Get Congressional Republicans to Stop Tariffs

"I think it's coming," Wyden said at a May 14 Politico event on how U.S. manufacturing is navigating the second Trump administration.

He also said that even with Trump's vocal love for tariffs and first-term record of hiking tariffs, "nobody thought Donald Trump would go this far."

Wyden, who co-led an attempt to rescind the emergency underlying universal 10% tariffs, and possibly far higher "reciprocal tariffs," said that many Republicans said during that debate: "OK, Donald Trump gets a little bit more time."

"What my constituents want is to end this trade merry-go-round," Wyden said. He described that merry-go-round as Trump threatening outrageously high tariffs, then backing down. He said Oregon businesses are telling him "they have no idea what comes next. That's not a trade policy!"

The Politico moderator, at a later Q&A, asked Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., what it would take for him to push back on Trump's tariffs.

"First of all, we have to see how this plays out," he said. "I don't want to undermine whatever the negotiating strategy," he said, though he added: "I don't know what it is."

He said that Trump wants to be -- and is -- unpredictable.

He called Trump's approach of high tariff threats, in order to get trading partners to change their practices, "very bold -- very high risk."

Johnson said Congress can "poke a stick in his eye" via messaging votes, but there's "really nothing that we can do" to stop the tariffs. So, he said, he's focusing on what he can do -- reducing federal spending.

Johnson, who is on the Senate Finance Committee, praised the administration for listening to him when he tells him about businesses that have told him at 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, they'll go out of business, or "lay off a bunch of people."

He did say he was talking bluntly because he wanted the White House to see this, and said, "He only has so much time."

But Johnson said he doesn't want to undermine Trump's strategy, "because, unlike others who are hoping he fails, I'm hoping he succeeds. I hope he succeeds spectacularly. I hope all my concerns are alleviated."

Johnson said he would prefer a world of zero tariffs, though he said he understands that countries want to protect their agriculture because they don't want to be import-dependent with food. He gave the example of Canada, and said, without protection, U.S. exports of cheaper dairy "could probably wipe out Canada's dairy industry."

Wyden criticized even Trump's de-escalations, saying, "Tariffs are five times higher than the day President Trump was sworn in. What we have we gotten for it?"

Like Wyden, Johnson said he hears from manufacturers in his home state and the National Association of Manufacturers that "investment is on hold," because "the whole trade war has injected an enormous amount of uncertainty."

On another panel, Rep. Chris DeLuzio, D-Pa., said he's also hearing pushback about tariffs at home. "In a place like Western Pennsylvania, for me to hear from union workers, small business owners, manufacturers, all having a lot of pain from what the president announced, tells you something."

The moderator also asked about the tax cuts bill that passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee early on May 14.

Wyden told the audience that, despite the fissures in the Republican Party, he believes a bill to extend tax cuts -- and end de minimis worldwide in 2027 -- will ultimately pass.

"They're ultimately going to say, look, we don't want to blow it," he said.

But Johnson cast doubt on the fate of "One Big Beautiful Bill." He said the fact that it cuts taxes more than it cuts spending over the next 9.5 years makes it unpalatable for him and other Republicans who care about deficit spending, "The ‘big, beautiful bill,’ I think that’s the Titanic," he said, because he thinks enough Republicans will vote against it in the Senate because it doesn't cut spending enough. "I think that’s going down."