Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) is perhaps the only Democrat on Capitol Hill willing to defend President Trump’s new tariffs to the hilt. In fact, his main concern is that the president will back down from his trade policy.
Why it matters: It’s one vote House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) can’t count on as he makes opposition to the tariffs a new centerpiece of House Democrats’ anti-Trump messaging.
- Jeffries said Monday that he hasn’t “heard any opposition” among House Democrats to Rep. Greg Meeks’ (D-N.Y.) measure to effectively kill Trump’s new across-the-board tariffs.
- But Golden told Axios in an interview on Capitol Hill: “I’d be a ‘no’ on that.”
What he’s saying: “My biggest worry is that they’re going to do this and lose faith and political will and back away,” Golden said.
- The Maine Democrat also dismissed the stock market turmoil that has accompanied Trump’s tariffs: “The vast majority of Americans have no stocks.”
Between the lines: Golden, who represents one of the most Republican-leaning districts of any Democrat in Congress, is trying to forge a populist brand that he dubs “progressive conservatism.”
- Part of that is legislation he introduced in January to establish a universal 10-percent tariff on all imports into the U.S.
- “I remember Dems being outraged by the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, all these trade deals, even as recently as TPP,” Golden told Axios.
- “Now all of a sudden it’s like a complete 180 degree flip here where we’re staunchly defending the importance and relevance of the stock market to the American economy and defending free trade deals.”
Zoom out: Golden is far from the only Democrat supportive of some degree of protectionism, but even Democrats who favor tariffs in theory have largely spoken out against Trump’s tariffs in practice.
- “I think a wrong-for-decades consensus in Washington on free trade has been a race to the bottom,” said Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) in a video posted to X by the House Democratic caucus on Friday.
- “The president’s tariff announcement, though, his trade strategy — it’s been chaotic, it’s inconsistent,” Deluzio said, criticizing tariffs on allied countries like Canada.
What to watch: Democrats are already signaling plans to run in the 2026 midterms on opposition to Trump’s trade policy — or at least the economic chaos it creates.
- But Golden, ever the obstinate independent, suggested he will go his own way.
- “When they’re searching under every couch cushion for ways to re-appeal the party to working class, coming out against this so strongly” is not a very good strategy, he said.