Trump's Tariff Spin Is Putting Republicans in an Awkward Spot

Should they brag about raising taxes, like the White House is doing, or try to distance themselves from those same tax increases?

The Trump administration's strategy of bragging about a huge surge in tariff revenue is creating some obvious and uncomfortable questions for other Republican politicians.

Like, hey, where is all that money coming from?

In a viral video, Rep. Barry Moore (R–Ala.) is seen struggling to deliver a straight answer to that question at a town hall in Alabama this week.

"Who pays the tariff? Is it consumers or is it the exporting country?" asks an attendee at the event. In response, Moore launches into a line about inflation—before being quickly shouted down by the audience for dodging the question.

"Who pays the tariff?" the crown begins chanting. "Who pays the tariff? Who pays the tariff?"

Again, Moore tries to pivot away with a non sequitur about the Marshall Plan and the efforts to rebuild Europe after World War II. (Notably, the Marshall Plan helped lay the groundwork for reducing tariffs, as policymakers recognized how high tariffs played a significant role in the economic and geopolitical problems of the 1930s.)

The crowd does not relent. Eventually, to his credit, Moore does try to address the question. "You're not paying anything on the tariffs," he says, before claiming that shipping companies are covering the added cost. The crowd does not seem particularly satisfied with that answer.

The truth is that President Donald Trump's tariff hikes are hitting Americans in all sorts of ways. Some importers and other businesses are trying to eat the added cost of those taxes (which shows up in the form of reduced profits), while others are passing the tax along the supply chain. The tariffs are also discouraging investments, disrupting international mail services, and causing chaos in various markets.

While the exact contours of the tariffs' impact might take many forms, the cost is ultimately borne by people—just like with any tax. The Yale Budget Lab estimates that the average American household will pay approximately $2,400 in tariff costs this year. That won't show up as a lump sum like a property tax bill or be easily seen like the income tax withholdings on your pay stub, but the costs are still real, even if they are less obviously seen.

Republicans in Congress, like Moore, had nothing to do with these new tariffs, which have been implemented unilaterally by Trump under the constitutionally dubious claim that he's responding to an economic emergency. With a few exceptions, most Republicans have been unwilling to criticize the president for the tariffs—or much else—and seem entirely disinterested in doing anything to block or reduce them.

That's despite the fact that the tariffs remain unpopular with the public. In a Pew Research Center poll earlier this month, majorities said that Trump's tariffs would be "mostly negative" for both the country and their own families. About six in 10 respondents said they disapproved of the tariffs.

Meanwhile, Gallup's monthly tracking poll shows that Trump's approval rating on the economy has slid from 42 percent in February to 37 percent in August.

But perhaps the most relevant poll on this topic is one conducted all the way back in February by the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University. In that survey, 58 percent of respondents said domestic businesses and consumers paid the cost of tariffs, while 42 percent said the costs fell on foreign governments or businesses based in other countries. Among those who believed it was foreigners paying for the tariffs, 51 percent supported raising tariffs.

It is that group of Americans who are the target of the Trump administration's messaging on tariffs, which assumes that higher tax revenue is something to be cheered as long as someone else is footing the bill.

How long that point of view can hold out against a continuous assault of economic reality remains to be seen. Inflation has ticked upward in recent months, and rising prices at the wholesale level suggest that worse could be on the way. American companies like John Deere and Ford are facing slumping sales and lower profits due to the tariffs. In all, the notion that foreign countries and corporations are bearing the brunt of the trade war seems fragile at best (and an outright lie at worst).

That leaves Republicans like Moore, who is running for Senate next year, in a tricky spot. Should they go along with the White House's plan to celebrate a massive tax increase that was imposed on their constituents without so much as a congressional hearing, much less a vote? Or should they try to ignore the obvious consequences of Trump's tariff policies, even as those same constituents get angry about rising prices?

Moore's town hall this week demonstrates the limited viability of the second option. How long before Republicans simply have to admit the obvious and blame Trump for raising their constituents' taxes?