Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), one of the senior-most members of the Senate Republican conference, has "pleaded" with President Donald Trump to exempt potash from tariffs levied on imports from Canada.
- Grassley said in a message on X: "Biden inflation increase the input cost to farming by 20% incl particularly high prices on fertilizer. So I plead w President Trump to exempt potash from the tariff because family farmers get most of our potash from Canada"
- The message is a sign that Trump's tariff agenda may burn significant political capital with Republicans from agricultural and manufacturing states, likely to bear the brunt of Trump's tariffs and retaliatory actions from targetted countries.
- Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a regular adversary of Trump, said on Sunday: “[Tariffs] will drive the cost of everything up. In other words, it will be paid for by American consumers. Why would you want to get in a fight with your allies over this?”
- Axios notes that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said in August that he is against "across-the-board tariffs” but is open to the selective use of tariffs.
- As a reminder, the power of the executive is limited. For durable legislative change, Trump needs to keep Republican lawmakers onside. Any major revolt from agricultural state Republicans will put the entire GOP agenda at risk.