Republican lawmakers may be expressing their relief at Trump’s U-turn on global tariffs—but it appears that none of them knew it was coming.
Trump’s congressional allies were publicly supporting Trump’s erratic tariff decisions as recently as 15 minutes before the president announced a 90-day “pause,” reducing the higher-rate “reciprocal” tariffs to 10 percent for almost all countries, except China.
CNN’s Erin Burnett pointed out Wednesday night that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared on Fox pushing Trump’s tariffs just minutes before the pause, noting that Rollins was “not in on the change of heart.”
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Rollins was apparently not alone. Most MAGA lawmakers learned the news like the rest of the public—through a Truth Social post, according to Politico. That post, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, was only known to himself and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who were in the room with the president as it happened.
“Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it,” Trump said Wednesday. “I’ve been dealing with Scott, with Howard, with some other people that are very professional. And I think it probably came together early this morning, fairly early this morning, just wrote it up,” Trump continued, claiming his post came ”from the heart.”
“I didn’t, we didn’t have the use—we didn’t have access to lawyers, or—it was just wrote up. We wrote it up from our hearts, right? It was written from the heart, and I think it was well written, too, but it was written from the heart. It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us."
Meanwhile, others weren’t so comfortable. Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was forced to speak in real time on the issue as he testified at a House Ways and Means Committee.
“I understood the decision was made a few minutes ago,” Greer said when quizzed on the pause.
“I understand it’s 90 days, I haven’t spoken to the president since I’ve been in this hearing,” Greer said.
“I feel like you’re in a very bad position here, this whole idea that this president made this switcheroo on you while you were in the middle of testifying here today,” said Democratic New York Rep. Tom Suozzi.
His colleague, Rep. Steven Horsford, was more blunt.
“WTF! Who’s in charge? Because it sure doesn’t look like it’s the trade representative—you just got the rug pulled out from under you,” he told Greer.
Meanwhile, at a Republican Study Committee lunch, Republicans reportedly broke out in cheers as Sen. Roger Marshall announced the news.
“It really lightened up the lunch discussion,” South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said, according to ABC News. He described clapping and “a lot of smiles” in the room at the time.
The scramble following the news highlighted what little insight most Republican members within Trump’s administration had at the time.
“I still don’t know what his total strategy is. We know what his goal was... I don’t know what the end game is here,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told CNN.
A conservative House Republican granted anonymity by Politico gave a more honest outlook: “What a sh--show.”
Despite growing pressure and a plunging stock market, President Donald Trump denied his change of tune was a capitulation to the business community amid a plunging stock market, but noted some of his advisers were “a little bit yippy.”
“I thought people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting a little bit yippy,” he said. “They were getting a little bit yippy, a little afraid.”
