GOP senator warns Trump should pursue 'solid path' on trade with China

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran worries that President Donald Trump’s escalating fight with China over trade isn’t just a tough negotiation strategy.

The Kansas Republican was one of several state and federal officials to attend the General Aviation Manufacturers Association meeting at Garmin headquarters in Olathe Friday.

The aviation industry meeting happened at time when Trump has engaged China, the biggest importer of U.S. aviation products, in an escalating fight over trade — a move that makes Moran nervous because two of Kansas’ biggest industries are caught in the crosshairs.

“There has to be great concern as we suffer results from the tariffs that it is going to be damaging to aviation and to the agriculture economies. That will impact my state of Kansas in a significant way,” Moran said.

“I hope this is a negotiation tactic, but the efforts we see now suggest something more than that because it keeps being ramped up,” he said.

China responded to $50 billion in proposed tariffs from the Trump administration with its own list of tariffs equaling the same amount. The Trump administration responded Thursday with a proposal for $100 billion in tariffs.

The prospect of tariffs has already hurt the prices on soybeans and other crops important to the region.

“The United States imposes tariffs. China responds. The United States imposes tariffs. China responds. The United States responds to that,” Moran said, recapping the past few days.

“That’s what you have to worry about. You have to have a very solid path, not just escalating a fight between (the U.S. and) a significant purchaser of what we produce in aviation.”

China accounted for 58 percent U.S. aviation industry’s export market in 2016, purchasing more than $13.2 billion worth of U.S. aircraft and other aviation products, according to the International Trade Administration.

The agency, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, refers to China as the “world’s second largest and one of the world’s fastest growing civil aviation markets” on its website.

The fight over trade has had reverberations in the U.S. Senate race in Missouri.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, the incumbent Democrat, was among the lawmakers of both parties in the region to criticize Trump's moves.

Her likely GOP opponent, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, has been more supportive of Trump's efforts.

"The president’s right to take on cheaters," Hawley said Friday, referring to alleged currency manipulation by the Chinese government.

The Missouri Democratic Party attacked Hawley Friday, saying that his support for "these damaging tariffs is a slap in the face to the farmers who fuel Missouri's economy."

Hawley contends that farmers will benefit from a more equitable trade deal with China in the future.

“We’ve got to draw a line in the sand for agriculture… My top concern is to protect our farms and our farm families," Hawley said.

Moran, on the other hand, thinks Republican lawmakers need to put pressure on the White House to chart a more cautious course.

“We need to make certain that Republicans do not walk away from the importance of trade and exports,” Moran said. “If Republicans walk away from it, we don’t have anything to put it back together again."

Moran’s fellow Republican, U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, who represents Wichita, a city heavily dependent on the aviation industry, had a less dire view of the situation.

“We’re not in a trade war. We want to make sure we avoid that,” Estes said.

“Unfortunately, the way these trade negotiations happen we’ve seen in country after country you have some tit for tat back and forth, you have a threat of retaliation. We just need to stand up,” he said.

Trump recorded a robocall on Estes’ behalf last year to help the Republican in a surprisingly close special election to replace Mike Pompeo after he joined Trump’s administration.

Estes praised Trump’s ability as a negotiator, but admitted the he would necessarily employ the same tactics as the president.

“I’m not sure that I would always use the same methods he uses. I mean, he’s a big negotiator," Estes said. "That’s what he’s been in his life. And he takes a different approach sometimes.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 4:46 PM with the headline "GOP senator warns Trump should pursue 'solid path' on trade with China."