Former Vice President Mike Pence urged President Donald Trump to reverse course on the sweeping tariffs he announced in April.
In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Pence wrote that “economic warning signs are flashing” as he criticized Trump’s tariffs as a “massive policy misstep.”
Trump announced sweeping tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners on April 2 but reversed himself a few days later after a market meltdown, suspending the tariffs that he had called “reciprocal” for 90 days.
The White House has been contacted for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Pence and Trump fell out after he refused to go along with the latter’s efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. Now, he is among the few Republicans willing to publicly criticize the second Trump administration.
What To Know
Pence began his op-ed by heaping praise on the president, writing that Trump’s victory in November was “a political comeback unrivaled in modern American history.”
He hailed Trump’s efforts on immigration, saying the president had not needed to enact any new laws because he was “just a president with the backbone to do his job and keep America safe.”
Pence also praised Trump for “reasserting” American leadership in the Middle East, saying the Trump administration “immediately brought [Houthi militants] to heel with decisive force, reminding the world that peace is best preserved through strength.” He also expressed approval for Trump’s push to raise defense spending and crackdown on universities that he said “turned a blind eye to antisemitism” amid protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Then came the criticism.
First, he said that the administration’s “wavering support” for Ukraine has “emboldened” Russia to reject ceasefire negotiations and expand attacks on civilian targets. “Only renewed American military support for our close partner provides any hope for a just and lasting peace,” he wrote.
But Pence was most forceful in his criticism of the tariffs. The first quarter of 2025 “marked the second-worst economic start for a presidential administration since Richard Nixon,” he wrote.
“The cause? A massive policy misstep in the form of sweeping tariffs imposed on friend and foe alike. Since the president announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, the only thing America has been liberated from is trillions of dollars in investments.”
Pence said Trump’s proposed tariffs would be “the largest peacetime tax hike in American history, harming consumers and driving inflation.”
He said the Trump administration “can still get the economy back on track through free trade with free nations, even as the U.S. retains targeted tariffs on adversaries such as China.”
He said that the U.S. should unite “the democratic world in trade agreements that isolate China, not Europe and our Pacific allies.”
What People Are Saying
Pence also wrote that Trump “deserves credit for an energetic and effective start. His instincts on security, strength and sovereignty are as sharp as ever. But if we want to see this nation become truly great again, we can’t exchange time-tested conservative principles for populist platitudes. We need to cut taxes and tariffs, keep our military strong and well-funded, and lead on the world stage.”
He added that “only a return to the conservative principles that guided our administration and achieved peace and prosperity during the president’s first term will ensure that this administration builds something lasting—for the president’s legacy, and for America’s future.”
Trump told graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday that tariffs are “making us very rich. And you’ll be seeing the results pretty soon—sooner than most people think. Because that’s what other countries have been doing to us, just so you understand. They were tariffing the hell out of us. We couldn’t sell cars in Europe. We couldn’t sell cars in China. We couldn’t sell cars in Japan or anywhere else. We couldn’t do anything. And all we’re doing is—we’re doing it to them. But we’re doing it much better.”
What’s Next
The U.S. economy contracted by 0.3 percent between January and March, the country’s first downturn in three years.
The Trump administration is facing pressure to reach a deal with China and other countries as the president’s poll numbers on the economy fall and economists say tariffs will drive up inflation and could send the economy into a recession.
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