The Chamber of Commerce launches a big new campaign to try to save jobs from Trump's trade war.
Trump's needless trade war is already eliminating American manufacturing jobs. Now, even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fighting back against Trump by releasing a new campaign against his damaging tariffs.
Using a state-by-state analysis, the business lobbying group will argue that Trump is risking a global trade war that will hit U.S. consumers in the wallet.
"For example, the Chamber said Texas could see $3.9 billion worth of exports targeted by retaliatory tariffs; Tennessee, $1.4 billion; and South Carolina, $3 billion," Reuters reports.
The new lobbying campaign represents an escalation by the Chamber of Commerce, whose president, Tom Donahue, has previously complained that Trump's irresponsible policy could cost millions of American jobs.
"The current approach will deliver the greatest economic pain to precisely those areas of the country that the administration and the congressional majority are counting on for continued political support,” warned Donahue.
The Chamber of Commerce has long been a reliable, and powerful, ally for the Republican Party on Capitol Hill — and remains loyal when it comes to health care repeal and the GOP tax scam.
But now, in a surreal turn of events, the pro-business group is waging a public campaign against a Republican White House and loudly denouncing its economic policies as irrational and dangerous to American workers.
The group's move comes after General Motors warned Friday that Trump's trade war could lead to “less investment, fewer jobs, and lower wages” for the car company's employees.
Indeed, Trump's trade crusade is already shaping up to be a disaster for many U.S. manufacturers.
"China is expected to impose a new 25-percent tax on soybeans in July," Reuters notes. "Mexico is adding duties to pork imports. The EU has targeted $3.2 billion in American goods exported to the 28-member bloc, including bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles."
Last week, Trump was embarrassed when Harley-Davidson, the iconic, Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker, announced it was shipping some production overseas in order to manufacture bikes that will be sold in European countries.
The move was needed, the company said, because the European Union has retaliated against Trump's trade war by slapping a 25-percent import tariff on all Harley motorcycles that are made in America.
Meanwhile, the largest nail manufacturer in America, Mid-Continent Nail, located in a Missouri county that voted 79 percent for Trump, confirmed that its employees might all be out of work by Labor Day because the company simply cannot survive Trump's tariffs.
When the Chamber of Commerce is attacking a Republican president's economic agenda, you know it's got to be terrible.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
