Trump ‘embraced’ a ‘Democrat position,’ says GOP rep

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00:00Trump embraced a Democrat position, says GOP representative.

00:05Representative Don Bacon sharply criticized President Donald Trump's tariff policy

00:09during a recent interview on NewsNation,

00:12arguing that the White House has abandoned traditional GOP economic principles

00:16and has embraced a more Democrat position.

00:20His remarks make him one of the most outspoken Republican lawmakers

00:23to publicly reject the Trump administration's tariff approach.

00:27Speaking with NewsNation host Conal McShane,

00:30Bacon framed Trump's tariff program as a historic departure from GOP economic policy.

00:35The Republicans have not supported tariffs since the 1930s, he said.

00:40Free trade gives you the best products at the best price in the most efficient manner possible.

00:45It's proven that tariffs do not work, he said.

00:48The election that happened was on affordability,

00:51and I think tariffs, I would say, were one of the main underlying causes, he said.

00:55He added that speaking out was a matter of responsibility, saying,

00:59I owe it to the country to speak what I feel is truth.

01:02These broad tariff battles, we will lose.

01:05Bacon's remarks reflect mounting discomfort inside the party,

01:08including farm state concerns about agricultural markets and rising consumer prices.

01:13In October, Senator Rand Paul said roughly 20 Republican senators were

01:17grumbling about the escalating trade war, but lacked the willingness to confront Trump publicly,

01:23saying they don't have the guts.

01:25Trump narrowed his tariff program via a new executive order,

01:28modifying reciprocal tariffs first enacted in April.

01:31The president signed an executive order exempting more than 100 food items from tariffs,

01:37marking one of the clearest acknowledgements that the tariff strategy had become politically risky

01:41and economically difficult to defend.

01:43The executive order described the exemptions as necessary and appropriate,

01:48citing domestic demand, production limits, and ongoing trade negotiations.