Sen. Mike Lee wants to see tariffs used as leverage in trade negotiations
Apr 9, 2025, 6:37 AM
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaks at UVU in Orem on Nov. 7, 2024. On Monday, Lee said President Donald Trump could be the most "pro-trade, pro-growth president in modern U.S. history" if he uses leverage from tariffs to reduce trade barriers. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — President Donald Trump and his allies have offered several different reasons for the expansive tariffs enacted last week, including that they are being used to bring back American manufacturing, balance trade deficits with foreign nations, and act as a bargaining chip in trade and other negotiations.
Some of those justifications appear to be at odds with one another, however, as the long-term duties likely needed to convince businesses to move manufacturing back to the U.S. seem to preclude using tariffs as leverage in short-term negotiations. Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a close Trump ally, is making the case for lowering tariffs — saying Trump could make history by doing so.
“Trump could go down as the most pro-trade, pro-growth president in modern U.S. history if he uses this moment as an opportunity to reduce trade barriers,” Lee wrote on X. “It would help ease inflation while promoting demand for U.S. products abroad. That would be good for Americans.”
Lee made the comment in response to a post from his friend, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who was also making the case for bargaining down the tariffs on other countries.
“If President Trump uses this moment as leverage, that would be a massive victory for the American people,” Cruz wrote. Trump has advisers in the White House who “want high tariffs forever,” the senator added, hoping that Trump “listens to the angels” on his shoulders.
The debate over tariffs is playing out among top Trump advisers on social media, where billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday called Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, “dumber than a sack of bricks.” Navarro had previously criticized Musk as a “car assembler” because his car company, Tesla, uses foreign parts.
Navarro has been a longtime supporter of trade barriers while advising Trump during both terms in the White House. Although Musk has been one of Trump’s biggest boosters early in his second term, the world’s richest man has pushed back during the current trade war, suggesting the U.S. and Europe “should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation,” according to ABC News.
Trump’s recent tariffs have shaken markets around the world, and Goldman Sachs raised its odds of a recession in the U.S. to 45% in light of last week’s announcement. Utahns will feel the impacts of tariffs in the form of higher prices, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told reporters last week.
But Lee was optimistic after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects to see the nation’s trading partners come to the table.
“Lower tariffs — in terms favorable to the U.S. — coming our way,” Lee said on X, adding that reducing levies will lead to economic growth, additional jobs and “prosperity.”
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