Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said President Trump’s tariff threat against Mexico resembled “random dart throwing” rather than strategy.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Mr. Trump keeps “poking people in the eye to see what will happen.”
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas rated the tariff threat “the dumbest idea economically this president has come up with.”
And Sen. Kamala Harris of California just called it “foolish.”
Nearly all the Democratic presidential candidates are blasting Mr. Trump’s tariff tactic with no fear that he might succeed in forcing Mexico to crack down on the flow of illegal immigrants to the U.S.
Even if Mexico bows to Mr. Trump, the Democratic hopefuls see no downside in being wrong this time.
“There’s no such thing as negative exposure for being anti-Trump in the Democratic presidential primary,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. But “if the situation on the Mexican border has stabilized and Trump reverses course on DACA, it would hurt the Democratic nominee next fall.”
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was an Obama-era edict that granted deportation amnesty to many younger illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. Mr. Trump ended the policy and has opposed Democrats’ efforts to restore it, including a House bill passed this week that would give these “Dreamers” permanent legal status.
Talks between U.S. and Mexican officials continued Thursday in a rush to reach a deal before a 5% tariff on Mexican goods takes effect Monday.
The tariff would increase each month until reaching 25% if Mexico does not stem the flow of illegal immigrants to the U.S. from Central America.
As with Mr. Trump’s past use of tariffs, he faces opposition from his own Republicans who traditionally embrace free-trade policies and shun tariffs. For the Democratic hopefuls, the issue is much more complicated in the Trump era.
Democrats and their union allies traditionally support tariffs and protectionist trade policies. It forced 2020 Democrats to twist their positions to find a way to oppose Mr. Trump’s tariffs on China, which are aimed at fighting Beijing’s trade abuses.
Mr. Trump’s impact on the U.S. electorate further complicates the issue. Exit polls in 2016 primaries showed that Republican voters were increasingly supportive of protectionist trade policies and Democratic voters were becoming more accepting of free trade.
Some politicians on both sides of the aisle have yet to catch up with the trend, or perhaps believe it is an aberration tied to Mr. Trump presence.
The Mexico tariffs, however, fit neatly into the Democrats’ playbook of opposing Mr. Trump on illegal immigration and painting his foreign policy as chaotic and dangerous.
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the front-runner in the Democratic race who has made union support a cornerstone of his campaign, has been conspicuously mum on the Mexico tariffs.
Mr. Biden is preparing to challenge Mr. Trump’s China policy.
“Trump’s erratic and impulsive approach to China is causing families economic pain,” Kate Bedingfield, Mr. Biden’s deputy campaign manager, told Politico. “Joe Biden would rally our friends and allies to hold China accountable.”
A Democratic Party operative said Mr. Biden will weigh in on the Mexico tariffs when it suits him, as he has set his own slower pace for his campaign.
Meanwhile, the other Democratic candidates are sounding the same alarms as Republicans, warning that the tariffs on Mexico, one of America’s biggest trade partners and the largest importer of U.S. goods, will damage our economy and trigger job losses and higher prices.
“What we’re seeing right now is basically politically motivated gamesmanship, and it’s coming down on your back,” Mr. Buttigieg said at an MSNBC town hall in Fresno, California.
“It’s hurting farmers. It’s hurting workers. It’s hurting consumers,” he continued. “I wonder how many consumers are aware that that the projection is we all on average will pay 800 bucks more a year starting now because of these tariffs. And by the way, a tariff is a tax, so if you ever believe the Republicans don’t raise taxes, that’s what they’re doing right now.”
Mr. Trump argues that Mexico will bear the brunt of the economic pain.
“A lot of people, senators included, they have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to tariffs — absolutely no idea,” Mr. Trump said Thursday upon his arrival in Ireland.
The Democratic candidates’ anti-tariff message is resonating with voters in South Carolina, home to the first primary in the South, where voters split on the immigration issues.
“Folks are not overly enthusiastic about [the tariffs] because they think as it goes on, assuming it does, it is going to have a negative impact on their pocketbooks. Folks are going to be paying more for products,” said Harold Crawford, chairman of the Democratic Party in Aiken County, South Carolina.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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