Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds said he’s watching President Trump’s trade war carefully.
Most of President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs are on pause. The administration is also signaling an ease on the 145 percent levy on Chinese goods.
During the congressional break, Rounds said he’s hearing concern from constituents about how President Trump’s tariffs are affecting the stock market and people’s retirement accounts.
Rounds said businesses that enhance products from overseas should not be affected by the tariffs.
“When it looks like some of those might go out of business because they can’t afford to pay the tariffs on those items, that’s when you got to rethink the approach you’re taking," Rounds said. "We’ll be back in touch with the administration, letting them know this may not be working the way they thought it would in the first place and expecting that they’ll make exceptions for those types of things that are being added to our supply chain and in doing so, provide good jobs for American citizens. They’ve got to take that into account.”
During an interview on SDPB’s In The Moment with Lori Walsh, Rounds said President Trump’s trade war is not how many would conduct business. However, he said he hopes the tariffs are short lived as the move has opened trade negotiations.
Rounds said his office is working to right any wrongs South Dakotans experience as the Trump Administration restructures the executive branch.
South Dakota’s Republican junior senator said his office has taken on 140 specific requests for assistance.
President Trump tapped billionaire Elon Musk to cut federal spending. Rounds said he hears from many the country's $37 trillion dollars debt is not sustainable.
“But, they also want to make sure that if we make cuts everybody knows what the cuts are going to be and where they’re going to come from and that it’s not going to be done with a sledgehammer. They kind of feel that the DOGE kind of did a sledgehammer, which surprised a lot of people," Rounds said. "They thought Elon would come in with more of an AI oriented program and be more sophisticated in the way they shut things down.”
Rounds said his office has fixed several constituent issues that arise, working cases one at a time. Round said he communicates what cuts and changes are and aren’t working with the executive branch.
“There has been an impact in South Dakota with regard to some of the items—the restructuring of the executive branch of government. We’ve had about $20 million in grants and loans or operations people have talked to us about," Rounds said. "We, once again, would invite people—make contact with our offices if it’s something that has impacted you.”
Rounds said he wants to repair any accidents that occur.
