Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blasted former President Donald Trump's call for hefty tariffs on products made overseas.
"Yeah, I'm not a fan of tariffs," McConnell said Tuesday,
"They raise prices for American consumers," he added. "I'm more of a free-trade kind of Republican that remembers how many jobs are created by the exports that we engage in. And so I'm not a tariff fan."
Trump has been clear about what he thinks should be done as John Deere talks about moving jobs to Mexico
"They've announced a few days ago that they're going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico," he said. "I'm just notifying John Deere right now: If you do that, we're putting a 200% tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States."
Trump told supporters Tuesday that he would use tariffs to create a "manufacturing boom" in the U.S. The former president has also proposed a blanket 20% tariff on imports from other countries and a 60% or higher tariff on goods from China.
Some economists warn that a push for tariffs could raise prices for consumers.
But a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee said that under Trump, "American farmers, manufacturers, and auto workers got the best trade deals in history and he will once again put America First when we send him back to the White House."
The U.S. imports more than $3 trillion in goods from other countries annually.
Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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