08-04-2025
NC Congressman defends Trump, urges business owners to give tariffs a chance
Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards holds local town hall meeting with constituents. (Photo Credit:)
Three weeks after a hostile town hall in Asheville, U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards (NC-11) found himself before a more reserved audience of business owners in which he expressed support for President Donald Trump's tariffs.
'I do not blindly support the idea of tariffs, but I do support the theory that the president has brought to us,' Rep. Edwards told his audience Friday at UNC-Asheville.
Edwards said the American people elected Trump to a second term knowing his position on imposing tariffs.
'President Trump is the master, he's an author of the art of the deal. With everything that he does, he considers it a negotiation,' Edwards explained.
Edwards said in order to get bordering countries to do their part to secure the U.S. border, or foreign countries to do their part to prevent drugs or human trafficking from coming across the border, the president needed leverage.
'And if you don't have leverage, you create leverage.'
Edwards recounted a recent appearance on a Canadian television station in which he was asked to explain the U.S. position on tariffs.
'I explained to them that this was an opening move…to get Canada to do some things, to help both themselves and the United States, and create a stronger and better world.'
In the hour-long event streamed by WLOS, Edwards told members of the Council of Independent Business Owners (CIBO) that he believes Americans owe it to the president to give tariffs a chance.
'Someone asked me, 'Well, how long do you give it?' I can't set a hard-firm rule. I believe that we need to closely look over the president's shoulder, listen to the negotiations that are going on, and look at the results of tariffs, and then make up our minds.'
On Monday, Trump threatened even steeper tariffs on China this week while denying his administration would place a 90 day pause on his tariff plan for further negotiations.
That erased the one positive gain in the stock market Monday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to close down another 349 points. The Wall Street Journal pegged last week's U.S. market losses at $6 trillion.
JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman have also warned the Trump's tariffs could lead to an economic downturn for consumers.
'We are likely to see inflationary outcomes, not only on imported goods but on domestic prices,' Dimon said in an annual shareholder letter.
A new survey released Monday by WalletHub finds that nearly half of Americans are concerned that tariffs will make their credit card debt worse.
Still, Edwards said he has had success in getting the White House to provide relief on some textile tariffs.
'And if I need to go back to the president and say, I want you to rethink this, or rethink [that], then I'll certainly do that.'
