Ramesh Ponnuru, Columnist

Republican Leaders Will Cave on Trump's Tariffs

They know their position is weak, and so does the president.

March 9, 2018 at 12:17 PM UTC

Ramesh Ponnuru is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the editor of National Review and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

They won't dare.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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A group of 107 Republican congressmen wrote a letter to President Donald Trump urging him not to go ahead with tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products. It is the biggest break in Republican unity during the Trump administration so far. Even Senator Tom Cotton, a reliable ally of the president, made the case against the tariffs. But will the congressmen’s talk be followed by action to undo the order the president signed on Thursday afternoon?

Almost certainly not. A rational calculation of their political interests will lead them to surrender to Trump, just as it always does.