Republican Senator Asks Trump Trade Official Whose 'Throat Do I Get to Choke' If Tariff Play Doesn't Work

Republican Senator Thom Tillis warned a Trump official that he is extremely skeptical of the administration's tariff policy, asking him "whose throat do I get to choke" if it ends up going south.

"I'm not condemning the approach because I'm not a trade expert. If you own this decision I look to you to figure out if we're going to be successful. If you don't own the decision, I'm just trying to figure out whose throat I get to choke if it's wrong and who do I put up in a platform and thank for their noble approach if they're right," Tillis asked U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during a Senate hearing.

In another passage of his time before the microphone, Tillis added that Trump probably has until February to fix the economy before Republicans are punished at the polls. "I'm just trying to figure out if they're going to feel good about this...I wish you well but I am skeptical," the senator added.

Several Republicans are already sounding the alarms about the tariffs' electoral impact, with Senator Ted Cruz saying last week that the measures could result in an electoral "bloodbath" in next year's midterm elections.

In an episode of his podcast Verdict, Cruz said the tariffs pose "enormous risks" for the U.S. economy, as long-term levies would boost inflation and have a continued negative impact on markets.

Cruz then relayed a potential negative outcome. "If the result is our trading partners jack up their tariffs and we have high tariffs everywhere, I think that is a bad outcome for America," Cruz continued before conceding that consumers will end up paying more as a result. "My hope is these tariffs are short lived and they serve as leverage to lower tariffs across the globe," he added.

Elsewhere, a top GOP pollster is warning that the tariffs are "exactly the opposite" of why voters supported him in the November election. Speaking to Politico, Whit Ayres said that Trump was "elected in part to lower inflation and juice the economy." "Higher prices and slower growth are exactly the opposite of what Americans voted for," he added.

Economists and analysts are warning that tariffs will result in higher prices. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday that their impact are "significantly larger than expected," but warned it's too soon to decide whether to cut interest rates as a result.

Speaking in Virginia, Powell said that the tariffs are "highly likely" to result in an "at least temporary rise in inflation," and warned that it is possible that their effects "could be more persistent," rather than a one-time shock.