Republican Senator Admits Tariffs Will 'Absolutely' Cause 'Short-Term Pain' for Voters

A Republican senator supporting President Donald Trump's tariff plan has admitted that tariffs will hurt constituents within his state, even if just temporarily.

Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy was interviewed by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins during his appearance on "The Source" Monday evening.

"I was looking at the numbers – 95% of Montana's imported goods come from Canada, Mexico, and China," she began. "Is this going to hurt people in your state?"

"There's absolutely gonna be short-term pain," Sheehy admitted. "The president's been clear about that. Everyone has. I mean, if you're gonna remodel your house to make it better in the end, it's gonna be really annoying in the short term when your house is getting remodeled and there's drywall dust everywhere and there's workers in your living room. The reality is that remodel has gotta happen in order to make things stronger and more stable on the back end."

However, Sheehy continued by reiterating his support for the implementation of tariffs, stating that foreign nations were "taking advantage" of the American economy and that tariffs provided necessary protections against this.

"But there's a lot of companies that right now are doing nothing because they're waiting to see what the policy actually is," Collins stated. "There's not a lot of mergers or anything happening because people are nervous about this. You liken this to a remodel. Sometimes those take longer than you plan for. I mean, if you're an American and you're waiting to see what does short-term pain mean? I mean, how long do you expect that to last?"

"I mean, we don't know," Sheehy continued. "And I'll add, a lot of the media frustration with the uncertainty around President Trump's–"

"Not media," Collins cut him off. "Business uncertainty."

"Uh, sure," Sheehy said. "But, you know, the media is helping with that. I mean, business uncertainty responds to public market sentiment. You know, there wasn't nearly as much pearl-clutching when we had record inflation, record interest rates, record cost of good increases for middle-class families over the last three and a half years."

Trump has continually promised to impose tariffs upon some of the U.S.'s largest trade partners since he assumed office in January, including China, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Though he has repeatedly delayed their implementation, he stated that they will take effect on April 2.

While critics have voiced concerns regarding tariffs resulting in full-fledged trade wars, the 47th president has stated that he will be "very kind" to the nations' trading partners while simultaneously promising a "Liberation Day" for the U.S., which he believes has been "ripped off by every country in the world".