JD Vance Pick Hardens GOP Swing to Protectionist Trade Stance

  • Trump plans for huge tariffs reverses decades of orthodoxy
  • Nominating Vance positions a successor to entrench trade views
Senator JD VancePhotographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
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Donald Trump’s pick of Senator JD Vance as his running mate Monday hardens the Republican party’s shift toward trade protectionism and positions a successor to entrench the viewpoint for years to come.

Trump’s selection of Vance, a rising populist star who is a vociferous critic of decades of bipartisan free trade deals, is a blow to a Republican establishment on Capitol Hill that remains dominated by free-trade supporters, and to retailers like Walmart that have thrived on selling cheap imports to US consumers.