Ron Johnson Panics on Air Over Trump’s Disastrous Tariffs
Republicans are wigging out about the consequences of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Republicans aren’t happy about Donald Trump’s tariffs tanking the stock market.
In an appearance on Fox Business Friday, Senator Ron Johnson said he was worried about the direction the market was headed, after Trump’s announcement of sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to experience its biggest wipeout since 2020.
“From my standpoint, I’m certainly concerned about what’s happening right now in the markets, and I hope the administration is looking at it as well,” Johnson said.
Johnson noted that while Trump was convinced that tariffs were the answer to the country’s economic woes, “what’s also indisputable is the markets are down about 8 percent in just two days.
“I’m getting all kinds of reactions from businesses, farmers in Wisconsin that are highly concerned about what’s happening. So, those are the facts; all I can really do is report the reality to the administration, let them know how these actions are impacting my constituents,” he said.
Johnson said Trump’s tariff policy was a “bold, risky move.” Meanwhile, analysts at JP Morgan have raised their recession forecasts for the next year from 40 percent to 60 percent.
Unfortunately for the Wisconsin Republican, Trump seemed completely unbothered by the major stock market tumble.
“I think it’s going very well,” the president told reporters Thursday. “It was an operation like when a patient gets operated on, and it’s a big thing. I said this would be exactly the way it is.
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom, and the rest of the world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal?” Trump added.
While White House aides have insisted that the administration is not open to negotiating on tariff rates, Trump has begun signaling that he is willing to cut deals, according to CNBC.
Trump’s new tariff policy is so unpopular in the Senate that it’s actually bringing together Democrats and Republicans.
On Wednesday night, the Senate passed a rare bipartisan rebuke of Trump, with four Republican senators joining the Democrats to approve a resolution that would limit the president’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada.
Senator Rand Paul appeared on Fox News Wednesday beside Democratic Senator Tim Kaine to criticize Trump’s tariffs, specifically the 25 percent tariff imposed on imports from Canada.
“Trade is proportional to wealth. The last 70 years of international trade has been an exponential curve upward, and the last 70 years of prosperity has been upward also,” the Kentucky Republican said. “We are richer because of trade with Canada, and so is Canada.”
Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana told CNN’s Manu Raju Wednesday that he was concerned about Trump’s decision to play the long game.
“In the long run, we’re all dead. Short run matters too,” Kennedy said. “Nobody knows what the impact of these tariffs is going to be on the economy.”
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina warned that the economic pain threshold wasn’t the same for everyone. “Anyone who says there may be a little bit of pain before we get things right, needs to talk to my farmers who are one crop away from bankruptcy,” Tillis said.
On Thursday, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley co-sponsored a bill with Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, that would allow Congress to review Trump’s tariffs. If passed, the Trade Review Act of 2025 would require Trump to give Congress 48 hours notice of tariffs he planned to impose and provide a 60-day window for Congress to approve the tariff or else have it scrapped.
In a post on X Thursday, Grassley insisted that his support of the bill was not a response to Trump’s tariffs. “If u r trying to make the Trade Review Act about current events/Trump tariffs U R MISSING THE MARK I’ve long expressed my view that congress has delegated too much authority on trade to the executive branch under Republican & Democrat presidents,” he wrote.