Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters on Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump's plans to impose tariffs on several major U.S. trading partners is "a negotiating tool."
Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday evening: "On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States" as well as "an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs" on Chinese imports.
"I think you got to see it as a negotiating tool," Grassley said in remarks on Tuesday morning.
He later added: "I'm concerned about the potential of it … but right now, I see everything that Trump's doing on tariffs as a negotiating tool. And we'll have to wait and see how successful he is about that."
He further said how important that tool could be.
"You expect the United States government to fight for the interests of the United States and to stop other countries from subsidizing their products coming into the United States," Grassley said. "That's a violation of the rules of trade, international rules of trade."
The senator also said on Tuesday, in a conference call with Iowa reporters, that "We need to get tariffs down," adding, "And that doesn't bad mouth, in no way is that meant to disagree with Trump because I think he's using tariffs as a negotiating tool."
He added: "It's kind of a tricky game when it comes to increasing tariffs because we in Iowa and throughout the agricultural community know that the first thing that's retaliated against is agriculture."