Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) knocked President Trump on Wednesday after his Treasury secretary suggested that the 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs could be extended even further for countries willing to negotiate with the U.S.
“Does it smell like TACOs in here to anyone else?” Beyer posted on X, using an acronym for “Trump Always Chickens Out” — a pejorative phrase used by critics to describe Trump’s trade policy.
The post came in response to a clip of Beyer’s line of questioning with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who appeared Wednesday before the House Ways and Means Committee.
Beyer asked Bessent if Americans should prepare for the sweeping tariffs to kick in next month, if the president’s pledge to strike “90 deals in 90 days” doesn’t come to fruition by the deadline.
“I would say, as I have repeatedly said, that there are 18 important trading partners. We are working toward deals on those, and it is highly likely that those countries that are negotiating — or trading blocs, as in the case of the EU — who are negotiating in good faith, we will roll the day forward to continue good-faith negotiations,” Bessent said in his testimony. “If someone is not negotiating, then we will not.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs in recent months, only to pull back days later. He initially threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada in early February but ultimately delayed imposing them.
Trump imposed sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of nations on April 2, but one week later announced there would be a 90-day reprieve where the tariffs were lowered to 10 percent.
More recently, he said last week he would impose a 50 percent tariff on the European Union starting in June. But days later, he announced he would delay those tariffs until July 9 while the two sides held talks.
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