The usually MAGA-friendly Fox and Friends has started to show concern over President Donald Trump‘s trade tariffs, with co-host Steve Doocy claiming major Republican donors are “terrified.”
On Wednesday’s (April 9) show, the panel discussed the political and economic impact of Trump’s new trade policies, with correspondent Chad Pergram reporting, “Democrats are adamant that the president is wrecking the economy. They ask why the U.S. applied tariffs on allies which agreed to the USMCA. That’s the trade pact implemented by the president during his first term.”
The discussion came just as China imposed 84% tariffs on the United States (an increase from 34%), a response to Trump’s levies of 104% on Chinese goods. As the trade wars continue to intensify and the stock market continues to plummet, the fears of recession grow.
“Given the fact that China’s now going to have an 84 percent tariff on U.S. goods, I see that the stock market futures, the market’s going to open in 90 minutes — they’re down like 600 or 700 points again,” Doocy said on Wednesday’s Fox and Friends, per Mediaite.
He continued, “How much pressure are Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill getting from their constituents? And a lot of them have major donors who are invested in the stock markets, and they’re terrified!”
In response, Pergram replied that “you’re starting to hear some of that,” adding, “Some of them will concede that privately, but again, most of them publicly will say, look, you know, we’re willing to give him that runway, as I said a bit ago.
Pergram said the donors and lawmakers want to give Trump a chance to “see if this will work.”
“This is where I thought this was kind of crystallized in the hearing yesterday before the Senate, where Thom Tillis, the Republican senator from North Carolina who probably faces a competitive reelection bid next year, he said if this doesn’t work, and he said this to Jameson Greer, ‘If this does not work, whose throat do I get to choke?’” Pergram added.
He concluded, “And so some people are very leery about that.”
