Republican Lawmakers Celebrate Trump’s Tariff Pause

The president’s announcement to pause many of his tariffs caught lawmakers by surprise, as markets rose in response to the policy change.

Scott Bessent

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP

Republican lawmakers were pleasantly surprised Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump announced a broad pause on most of his tariffs, a move that once again shook up the market — this time in a positive direction.

“Sounds like a reasonable thing to do, considering he’s got a lot of phone calls to return and some deals to make,” Sen. Kevin Cramer told NOTUS. “Seems like a pretty practical approach.”

Cramer said he did not have a heads up that the pause was coming but was “not surprised by it.”