Senators spoke to Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill about President Trump’s tariffs, with Democrats arguing prices are going up while Republicans tout revenue and the return of American manufacturing. (Credit: Nicholas Ballasy for Fox News Digital)
Republican senators who spoke to Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill said the United States is “on the cusp of a Golden Age,” thanks to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
When asked how Trump’s tariffs are impacting the price of goods and services, Senate Republicans defended the president’s ambitious policy, telling Fox News Digital that his tariffs have actually boosted their local economies.
“Well, in Indiana, we’ve seen a significant boost in our manufacturing economy,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, claimed, owing that alleged boost in large part to Trump and his tariff policies.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Trump’s tariffs are creating more manufacturing jobs in the United States. Coupled with his tax and trade policies and regulatory reform, the Missouri senator said the United States is entering its Golden Age, just as Trump promised.
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President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, imposing 25-percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, in his ongoing effort to overhaul the U.S. trading relationship with the rest of the world. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
But not everyone is convinced. Trump has been met with criticism since he announced his plan to impose universal and country-specific tariffs on all U.S. imports, encouraging domestic manufacturing and pressuring U.S. trading partners to return to the negotiating table.
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The sole Democrat who spoke to Fox News Digital about Trump’s tariffs, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said the business leaders he spoke to said they are raising prices due to increased tariffs on goods and services.
“I reviewed a whole list, but mostly commercial goods that are coming in from China,” Reed said. “The other effect would be what happens in the long-term in Canada. We get a lot of our energy from Canada and if those tariffs go up, that will hurt the whole industrial sector of the state.”
A container ship sails out of the port in Qingdao, in China’s eastern Shandong province, on Aug. 7, 2025. (STR/AFP/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced on Tuesday that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.2% in July compared with last month, while it was up 2.7% from a year ago.
The monthly figure was in line with the estimate of economists polled by LSEG, while the headline was slightly cooler than the 2.8% expected.
So-called core prices, which exclude volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.3% from the prior month and 3.1% from a year ago. The annual core figure was hotter than economists’ expectations of 3%, while the monthly figure was in line with the estimate.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the “market recognizes” that trade deals are underway, admitting there is “probably some concern about Canada.”
President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled “Make America Wealthy Again” at the White House in Washington on April 2, 2025. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“You have to remember that President Trump’s trade strategy is to keep whoever he’s negotiating with off balance, and then he gets a better deal. He’s a master negotiator.”
And the North Dakota senator said Trump “ultimately is going to get our exporters, whether it’s our farmers, our manufacturers, whoever, better trade terms.”
Banks drove the argument home, telling Fox News Digital that “automotive, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing across the board has been really strong in Indiana, so more good-paying jobs in our state is a direct result of tariffs.”
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He said Hoosiers understand that Trump is “weakening China’s economy,” which is good for America in the long run.
Fox News Digital’s Eric Revell contributed to this report.
