Liberation Day lasted less than a week.
There was no better place to watch President Donald Trump’s pirouette on tariffs than at a U.S. House hearing on Wednesday.
For three and a half hours, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer had been answering questions about Trump’s tariff plans, welcoming support from Republicans and parrying attacks by Democrats.
Outside, the markets were again losing ground, when suddenly everything changed.
Trump had posted on his Truth Social website that he was backing off most of the reciprocal tariffs he levied against countries around the world for 90 days.
That’s when the witness chair suddenly turned into a proverbial congressional “hot seat,” as Democrats demanded answers.
“This is amateur hour,” declared U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., who added that the headline should be, “Trump blinked.”
Horsford posted a photograph of Greer being told by an aide about Trump’s tariff decision.
“There’s no strategy,” Horsford said. “You just found out three seconds ago.”
“He pulled the rug out from under you,” U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., told Greer.
Across the Capitol, Democrats poured it on.
“He keeps changing things,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. “You cannot run a country with such chaos, with such unpredictability.” Schumer accused Trump of playing, “Red Light, Green Light” with the U.S. economy.
As the markets soared — trying to make up lost ground from the past week — Republicans cast the Trump change as a major victory. “The Art of the Deal!” exclaimed Georgia U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens.
But Democrats swiftly pointed out the obvious — that the White House was not announcing any new trade agreements as the reason for the tariff pullback.
“Trump tariff chaos continues,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “Uncertainty is horrible for the U.S. economy.”
So far, tariffs as a negotiating tool haven’t worked with China. Instead Trump increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to a dizzying 125%.
During Trump’s first term in office, he fought with China repeatedly on market access and tariffs. It finally led to a trade deal, but Beijing never lived up to the agreement to buy billions in additional American products.
One of the groups hit hardest by that tariff fight were U.S. farmers, as China is the third biggest importer of American farm products. Trump ended up bailing out U.S. farmers to the tune of $28 billion.
Back at the trade hearing, Republicans weren’t worrying about those details. They were just breathing a sigh of relief, along with Wall Street.
“The market is up 2300,” said a smiling U.S. Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio.
Check back in 90 days.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C. since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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