--- title: Donald Trump's Tariffs Were His First Big Break With the GOP description: President Donald Trump on Thursday did something he has rarely done: He enacted a policy most Republicans oppose. canonical: https://time.com/5192318/donald-trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum-republicans/ author: Molly Ball article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-08T22:31:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:35:21.258Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump's Tariffs Were His First Big Break With the GOP og:description: Not a single Republican lawmaker stood by him on stage. og:url: https://time.com/5192318/donald-trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum-republicans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c60dbb8b9ca577b/69892a3d22fb856afae2502d/gettyimages-929360372.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Surrounded by applauding steel and aluminum workers, U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the 'Section 232 Proclamations' on steel imports that he signed in Roosevelt Room the the White House March 8, 2018 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump's Tariffs Were His First Big Break With the GOP twitter:description: Not a single Republican lawmaker stood by him on stage. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c60dbb8b9ca577b/69892a3d22fb856afae2502d/gettyimages-929360372.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Tariffs Were His First Big Break With the GOP > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Molly Ball](https://time.com/author/molly-ball/)  ## Molly Ball Mar 8, 2018 10:31 PM UTC  Surrounded by applauding steel and aluminum workers, U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the 'Section 232 Proclamations' on steel imports that he signed in Roosevelt Room the the White House March 8, 2018 in Washington, DC. Surrounded by applauding steel and aluminum workers, U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the 'Section 232 Proclamations' on steel imports that he signed in Roosevelt Room the the White House March 8, 2018 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Molly Ball](https://time.com/author/molly-ball/)  ## Molly Ball Mar 8, 2018 10:31 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Thursday did something he has rarely done: He enacted a policy most Republicans oppose. In a hastily assembled White House ceremony, Trump signed orders [imposing tariffs](http://time.com/5192148/donald-trump-announces-tariffs-on-steel-aluminum/) of 25% on imported steel and 10% on aluminum. The signing followed days of confusion — and months of [intense infighting](http://time.com/5189578/donald-trump-tariffs-trade-war/) — in an Administration that has been [sharply divided](http://time.com/5186254/donald-trump-trade-wars-good/) on trade policy. “Our industries have been targeted for years and years — decades, in fact — by unfair foreign trade practices,” Trump said. “It’s going to stop.” On one side of the President stood a group of steel and aluminum workers; on the other, a select group of his economic advisers — but, notably, not a single Republican lawmaker. The policy Trump issued Thursday was watered down somewhat from the blanket tariffs he announced last week he planned to impose. The duties will not take effect for 15 days, according to the White House, and will [exempt Canada and Mexico](http://time.com/5191472/donald-trump-steel-aluminum-tariffs-canada-mexico/), key U.S. allies and trading partners. The trade law that authorizes the tariffs, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, is nominally about protecting national security, but key national-security officials such as Defense Secretary James Mattis didn’t attend Thursday’s ceremony and reportedly oppose the policy. **Read More:** [_The Real Trade War Is Inside Trump’s White House_](http://time.com/5189578/donald-trump-tariffs-trade-war/) Trump, as he noted in his remarks, has [believed in tariffs](http://time.com/4352542/history-donald-trump-tariffs/) as a boost to American manufacturing for decades, predating his entry into politics. His stance on trade differentiated him from other Republicans in 2016 and struck a nerve in the industrial Midwest. The officials who accompanied Trump on Thursday — U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and economic advisor Peter Navarro — comprised the White House faction that supported Trump’s protectionism. But another faction, led by chief economic advisor [Gary Cohn](http://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/), and including Republican congressional leaders, strongly opposes tariffs. The two groups have been fighting tooth and nail for the past year, with the free-market faction succeeding until now in forestalling an action conservatives warn could have severe economic consequences. Trade was just one of many issues on which Trump took a heterodox stance in his campaign. His campaign rhetoric included, at times, promises to provide universal healthcare and take on the pharmaceutical industry; to raise taxes on hedge-fund managers and protect Social Security and Medicare; to dial down military engagement and spend billions of dollars building up infrastructure, among other stances not typical of a GOP nominee. In recent weeks, he has also speculated about liberalizing immigration policy and pursuing gun control. But in practice, when it comes to policy Trump as president has done little to affront his fellow Republicans. The accomplishments of his first year — tax cuts, deregulation, a conservative Supreme Court justice, undermining the Affordable Care Act — are things a President Ted Cruz would likely have done, had he been elected instead. Despite all the hype about Trump’s party-busting populism, he has mostly governed as a conservative. That’s one reason why Republicans in Congress, despite being exasperated by Trump’s tweets and scandals, have rarely resisted him outright: There’s not much he’s done in the realm of policy that they actually oppose. Trump’s tariff announcement was the rare exception. So vociferously did Cohn oppose it that he reportedly resigned rather than see it on his watch. Republican leaders decried the move in unusually explicit terms: “I disagree with this action and fear its unintended consequences,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said. (Some Democrats, meanwhile, cheered the action, and AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka lauded it.) > [](https://twitter.com/RichardTrumka/status/971856437851971584) In true Trumpian fashion, the President dithered to the end, torn between his protectionist impulses and the conservatives begging him to change his mind; some White House staffers learned of the President’s plans when he tweeted about the announcement, which was not yet on his official schedule, on Thursday morning. But in the end, Trump went through with the tariff he’s long sought. For too long, “the workers who poured themselves into building this great nation were betrayed,” he said. “That betrayal is now over.” _With reporting from Tessa Berenson_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5192318/donald-trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum-republicans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5192318/donald-trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum-republicans/"},"headline":"President Trump's Tariffs Were His First Big Break With the GOP","datePublished":"2018-03-08T22:31:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:35:21.258Z","description":"Not a single Republican lawmaker stood by him on stage","url":"https://time.com/5192318/donald-trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum-republicans/","keywords":["Tariffs","Economy","Donald Trump","steel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c60dbb8b9ca577b/69892a3d22fb856afae2502d/gettyimages-929360372.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Molly Ball","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/molly-ball/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c60dbb8b9ca577b/69892a3d22fb856afae2502d/gettyimages-929360372.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Surrounded by applauding steel and aluminum workers, U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the 'Section 232 Proclamations' on steel imports that he signed in Roosevelt Room the the White House March 8, 2018 in Washington, DC.","caption":"Surrounded by applauding steel and aluminum workers, U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the 'Section 232 Proclamations' on steel imports that he signed in Roosevelt Room the the White House March 8, 2018 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/tariffs/","name":"Tariffs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5192318/donald-trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum-republicans/","name":"President Trump's Tariffs Were His First Big Break With the GOP"}}]}] ```