Deal to Avert Tariffs Leaves Unease Between Trump, GOP

By Siobhan Hughes

WASHINGTON—The deal averting tariffs was broadly celebrated by Republicans but left an undercurrent of tension between the president and many in the GOP, especially in the Senate, who dislike tariffs and opposed the Mexico policy.

Mr. Trump late Friday announced that Mexico had agreed to take “strong measures” to curb illegal immigration through policies that largely affirm the country’s commitments to existing measures. Under the deal, Mexico agreed to the rapid expansion of a policy to return Central American asylum seekers to Mexico, while they wait for U.S. immigration court hearings.

The pact came after the president threatened tariffs to force Mexico to do more to stop migrants from flowing across the border—a threat that drew sharp criticism from many key Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The president’s backers contend that the ends justified the means.

“His rock-the-boat strategy makes everyone uncomfortable, but at least in this case appears validated,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican operative and donor who supports Mr. Trump. “He extracted something we didn’t have two weeks ago, and if the cost of that is everyone being nervous, I think it’s worth it.”

Democrats and others have said that Mr. Trump didn’t notch a victory because the promises he claimed to have extracted had already been agreed to. Even so, Senate Republicans now sound more conciliatory, refraining from criticizing the president and moving to praise his skills as a deal maker.

Mr. Trump is using tariffs “as leverage in trade negotiations, and I think he used them as leverage in this situation brilliantly, quite honestly,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said on “Fox News Sunday.” He suggested last week that Congress might vote to overturn tariffs against Mexico.

“I’m not a big supporter of tariffs. He is, and his willingness to use that probably helped produce a result,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) said of Mr. Trump in a CBS interview Sunday.

The open question is whether Senate Republicans see themselves as having been bested or conclude that their warning shot prompted Mr. Trump to retreat.

“One reading is that this pushback from Republicans worked,” said Sarah Binder, a political-science professor at George Washington University. “One version is that the relationship is sort of working.…At the extremes of what Republicans can’t hold their noses for, the White House will give a little.”

How Mr. Trump interprets the episode matters because that is the sentiment he carries into a critical period for the federal budget. Congress must raise the debt ceiling by early fall in order for the government to keep paying its bills. The two branches must also strike a deal to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30.

While in Europe, the president had warned Senate Republicans against blocking any tariffs and has come to conclude that GOP senators are “gutless,” according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump’s allies see him as a dominant force.

“There was only one person who could have put the tariffs on and only one person who could decide not to put tariffs on, and that was the president of the United States,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.), who is close to Mr. Trump. “Against political odds, the president was willing to use tools in his toolbox that might have been largely condemned by some of the Republican senators.”

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