A former White House official from President Donald Trump’s first term blasted the president’s trade agenda on Tuesday during an interview on CNN.
Marc Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, discussed Trump’s trade agenda on Tuesday’s broadcast of “The Arena” with host Kasie Hunt. He commended Trump for bringing energy prices down, but argued that doing so revealed that the president’s agenda has been a complete “failure.”
“The fact that he has lowered energy prices is significant, as he has by 25%, in some way, just exacerbates how bad the trade agenda is, because if you actually lower energy prices by that much, and you still have inflation at 3%, it shows this trade agenda is a failure, and it’s not working,” Short said.
A signature element of Trump’s trade agenda is increasing tariffs on foreign goods. Trump has said this policy protects American workers and businesses, although some experts say the policy has been a drag on the economy.
The administration’s policy was recently challenged in court by wholesaler Costco, which is seeking a “full refund” of the tariffs it has paid since Trump took office, according to reports.
Short warned that Republicans need to pivot away from Trump’s trade agenda as the 2026 midterm election approaches.
“And if they don’t pivot from it, it’s going to cause Republicans a big disaster in the midterms,” he said. “It was clear from November that the message voters were sending in multiple states was affordability and cost of living. It is still the top issue, and it’s going to be a challenge for them.”
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