Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) acknowledged on Wednesday that one aspect of the tariff wars had truly surprised him: how many countries the Trump administration said had come to the negotiating table, and how quickly they had done so.
Kennedy made the observation when he joined hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” admitting that he “frankly never saw that coming.”
WATCH:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Some of the smartest minds across the world are betting on a recession.
SEN KENNEDY: With tariffs, an eye for an eye just leaves both people blind…But then…an extraordinary thing happened! We have 195 countries in the world. Probably 40% have come forward —… pic.twitter.com/30WYxnYuQ1
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 9, 2025
Scarborough set the oppositional narrative with regard to tariffs, saying, “Some of the smartest minds across the world are betting on a recession. What are you saying to your business leaders when they’re calling you about where this goes next?”
“Well, this is what I’m telling them,” Kennedy replied. “With tariffs, an eye for an eye just leaves both people blind. When a government imposes a tariff, it’s putting its thumb on the scale. It interferes with people’s freedom to exchange goods and services.”
“Some countries — China, the best example — have used trade barriers as a weapon to hurt the American economy,” Kennedy continued. “You said it — God created the world, everything else is made in China. President Trump decided to try to change this, and he, as we know, has imposed dramatically higher American tariffs on these countries.”
And that, Kennedy explained, was where the pendulum started to swing back: “But then, at least for me, an extraordinary thing happened. We have 195 countries in the world. Probably 40% have come forward — and instead of bowing up and fighting, they’ve said, ‘We want to lower our tariffs! Will you lower yours?’”
“I frankly never saw that coming,” Kennedy said, noting that he could not speak for what the president might do next, but adding, “I think it is a wonderful opportunity … I would pounce on this opportunity like a ninja. And I would use this as an opportunity to reduce or in some cases — Taiwan, Vietnam, European Union — go to zero reciprocal tariffs and then we can have free trade, let the best product at the best price win.”
Kennedy once again couched his comments by saying he did not know the White House’s plan and could only speak to what he would do in the current situation.
