The Port of Los Angeles in California on August 19, 2026. The White House has signaled it has no plans to put the brakes on the administration's tariff agenda.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
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In the two years since President Donald Trump unveiled a slew of aggressive tariffs on America’s global trading partners, the prospect of stock market backlash has been the biggest restraint on his agenda. The midterms may have just changed that.

Despite a steady drumbeat of polls showing Americans’ disdain for Trump’s tariffs, Republican lawmakers largely avoided publicly challenging the president’s trade agenda, seeing the political fallout from standing in his way as too great. But last week’s election results suggest there may also be a steep political price for that loyalty.