Former GOP Rep. Worries Trump Is Playing Fast And Loose With The Economy: 'Awfully Cavalier'

The amount of Republicans expressing concern at the economic impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs on the economy continue to grow, with a former lawmaker saying current officials are being "awfully cavalier" in their approach.

Concretely, former Rep. Charlie Dent told Politico that "people are talking about a recession" less than three months into Trump's term even though "he ran to lower prices and be a good steward of the economy."

"People are anxious and angry," Dent added. "Raising the price of a car by $2,000 or $10,000, that's a lot of money to most people and they're being awfully cavalier about that."

The outlet noted that Trump currently holds the lowest approval rating since his return to office: 43%, according to the latest installment of a Reuters/Ipsos poll that took place this week. The figure could be hit further as the impact of the tariffs continues to become apparent, with the stock market tanking on Thursday and Friday as a result of the tariffs.

Republicans currently holding office have been showing their concern in public, with Sen. Shelley Moore-Capito saying "it's pretty rough right now" but adding that "we need to see where this is going to settle." "He says it's a negotiation, let's see."

Other members of the GOP are taking concrete steps to address the measures. On Thursday, Sen. Chuck Grassley co-sponsored a bill that would require tariffs to be ratified by Congress within 60 days of their imposition. Should that not happen, they would expire.

Grassley introduced the legislation along with Democratic colleague Maria Cantwell, and would also seek for the president to notify Congress 48 hours before any tariffs are imposed.

The bill comes right after four GOP senators defied Trump and voted along Democratic senators to repeal tariffs levied against Canada. The resolution presented by Democrats within the Senate, led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), aimed to repeal an emergency declaration enacted by Trump in February to levy tariffs against the U.S. ally, The Hill reported.

Those who voted with Democrats were Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul. Their decision catalyzed an angry rant from Donald Trump, who took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to criticize them.

Paul, in fact, wrote an op-ed on Fox News calling to "terminate the Trump tariffs before it's too late." "The truth is that tariffs are taxes. They don't punish foreign governments; they punish American families," Paul said.