Within 24 hours of Donald Trump announcing his expansive tariff plan — laid out on what he called “Liberation Day” — western Pennsylvania lawmakers shared widely diverging perspectives on his sudden remaking of U.S. trade policy.
But as global financial markets took a plunge, some western Pennsylvania Republicans said any uncertainty was just a bump in the road to American economic superiority.
“Made in America is back,” said Republican Guy Reschenthaler on social media. The southwestern Pennsylvania Congressman hailed the tariffs as a move “to right this generational wrong” of foreign tariffs levied on American goods. He said tariffs will “bring manufacturing jobs home, and rejuvenate American working families.”
Trump ordered a 20% tariff on imports from the European Union and a minimum of 10% on most countries’ goods. NPR reported some economists worry the taxes will result in a spike in prices paid by U.S. residents, despite Trump’s assertion that costs will level out and markets will eventually “boom.” (That didn’t seem to assuage four Republican Congressman — none from Pennsylvania — who voted to pare back tariffs imposed on Canada.)
Republican Congressman Mike Kelly said in a statement that Trump’s “America First agenda,” and auto tariffs in particular, will create jobs and reinvigorate the U.S. auto industry: “This is critically important to ensure not only free trade with other nations, but fair trade in this global economy."
Kelly owns a number of automobile dealerships in the region.
And Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, whose team did not respond to a request for comment, appeared Thursday on a podcast (though previously recorded) where he compared the U.S. economy to a heavy aircraft carrier that’s trying to accelerate.
“What we wanna do is get the aircraft carrier zeroed in on a path where it's starting to pick up speed, and some of those things may slow growth a little bit,” McCormick said. “So the tariffs, President Trump said they're gonna be a little bumpy. We're not exactly sure what the impact's gonna be — he's very forthright about that.”
But, he said, while the warship is slowly moving, it’s “moving in the right direction.”
“Listen, [Trump’s] a business guy, so if there's some second or third consequence [of tariffs] that wasn't fully envisioned — which there may very well be — he'll adjust,” McCormick said.
Democrats were much more dubious that the tariffs would have the effects Trump seemed to promise.
Western Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Deluzio, who last month urged Democrats to not denounce all tariffs, still expressed misgivings about Trump’s approach.
Deluzio said some tariffs could “balance the playing field for American workers and industry,” as some of his Republican colleagues have said. But, “I think that should include strategic tariffs and muscular industrial investments and incentives, all alongside pro-worker policies.
“We rely heavily on countries like China, Japan, South Korea, and others that have prioritized policies to boost their manufacturing capacity and exports — often breaking trade rules,” Deluzio said in a statement to WESA. Even so, he said, Trump could use tariffs as a bargaining chip to improve labor conditions overseas, improving wages and quality of life for foreign workers, while reducing the wage gap that lures American companies away.
“We in the United States could leverage tariffs and labor requirements on trade-surplus countries to help rebalance trade and benefit workers — but that’s not what we’re seeing right now.”
And the tariffs themselves were set at rates that seemed arbitrary. Among the areas Trump singled out for tariffs, for example, were uninhabited islands, or islands occupied almost entirely by US military installations. Tariffs appear to be imposed largely on the basis of whether a country exported more goods to the US than it received in return — regardless of whether that country’s government imposed tariffs or other protectionist policies.
The whole process seemed “like amateur hour,” Deluzio said. “And it is baffling to spare Russia while hitting close economic allies with tariffs.”
Pittsburgh Congresswoman Summer Lee said levying high tariffs “won’t just hit folks at the checkout aisle — they will hit people’s retirement savings, too."
The sharp market decline Thursday adds worry and unpredictability to a chaotic start to Trump’s administration, she added: “We cannot call this leadership — it’s reckless gambling with our future.”
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman’s office did not share his reactions Thursday, and as of Thursday evening the lawmaker hasn’t reacted to the tariffs on social media since Wednesday’s announcement. But last month he told MSNBC, “We don’t have to punch our allies in the mouth.”
