Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who is battling to win an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, has released a new ad now calling for an immediate end to a "tariff war" with Canada after months of defending President Donald Trump's trade policies and declining to publicly urge any reversal of heavy taxes being levied on Canadian imports.
The TV ad, which comes as Rogers' trails Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in the polls for the seat currently held by retiring U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, is the second break Rogers has made from Trump, who endorsed him, even though it never mentions the president by name.
In a similar message two weeks ago, Rogers called for Trump's unpopular war with Iran to "end quickly"as a way to lower gas and diesel prices
and inflation overall. Rogers also had previously defended Trump's decision to begin the war with Iran. In that spot, Rogers also never mentioned Trump by name.
Still, that reversal and Rogers' new public criticism of Trump's tariff battles against Canada — America's second largest trading partner — opens him up to complaints of conveniently reversing his position ahead of the Nov. 3 election and the first debate between Rogers and El-Sayed in Grand Rapids on Oct. 8.
In the 30-second ad, funded by both Rogers' campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Rogers stands at a bar, holding a Canadian beer.
"Drinking a Labatt and watching the Red Wings. Man, it just doesn't get any more Michigan than that. And here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy," he says. "We need to end this tariff war — now."
Previously, Rogers had defended and even praised Trump's decision to levy heavy tariffs against Canada and other countries in order to bring manufacturing back to Michigan and the U.S., without offering any criticism of those applied to Canada, a huge trading partner for the state's auto industry, as well as farmers and other businesses in Michigan.
Historically, Canada has been an important ally and Trump's taxes on Canadian imports have been attacked as wrong headed: The Wall Street Journal editorial board called the latest salvos, "The Dumbest Trade War Revisited" on Aug. 23, adding, "Trump’s decision to escalate a tariff brawl with Canada makes no economic or political sense."
Rogers, however, had offered no such caution or criticism previously.
Asked by the Free Press on Sept. 22 if Trump and the administration needed to rethink its decision to increase tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Canadian imports to 50% — which Canada retaliated against by upping its own tariffs on U.S. goods — Rogers demurred, saying only, "If it’s good for Michigan, I’m going to be for it."
Rogers went on to talk about instances where he believed Trump's trade policy had helped Michigan. The state is considered vulnerable to tariffs even if they haven't driven up costs by as much as expected, as of yet.
"(UAW President) Shawn Fain and I agreed on (some of) those tariffs, if you can believe that," he said. "We want tariffs on manufacturing to be successful and they (Democrats) want it to be a political issue," he added. In other publications and statements in September, Rogers had said Trump'sincreased tariffs were "necessary" to help manufacturing and that Trump "was right to put America first."
El-Sayed, who holds about a 3-percentage-point lead in the RealClearPolling.com average of polls in the race, chastised Rogers for "an ad today calling for an end to the tariffs he has long championed" and noting that a recent New York Times/Siena poll showed aclear majority of likely Michigan voters somewhat or strongly opposed to tariffs on Canadian imports.
“Must have had one too many of those Labatts, Mike,” El-Sayed said. “You cheer-led this tariff war from the beginning and you’re flip flopping now because your poll numbers are in free fall. Donald (Trump) is the reason we’re in a trade war."
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mike Rogers changes tune on tariffs, trade war with Canada
