Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump’s international tariffs, saying they were not what voters in the Bluegrass State had in mind when they overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of Trump during the 2024 election.
Trump took home Kentucky by more than 30 points in November. But Beshear, a Democrat who has claimed victory in three statewide elections in the Republican-leaning state, said the president was abandoning the message that won it over.
“You know, the people of Kentucky, many of them voted for Donald Trump because they thought he’d make paying the bills a little bit easier at the end of the week,” Beshear told NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” “And he’s just making it harder.”
Trump has unleashed a fury of tariff activity in recent days. Last Monday, the president announced letters to 14 countries threatening new tariff rates in August. He followed that up Wednesday with seven more letters to countries, including the Philippines, Moldova and Sri Lanka.
Also on Wednesday, he threatened 50 percent tariffs on Brazil over the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally who is accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the country’s 2022 election.
“Look at what he’s doing to critical trading partners like Canada — 22 percent of our exports go to Canada — or Japan, who he’s pushing toward China,” Beshear said. “Japan invests in Kentucky at a level of almost no other state. You know, the largest Toyota manufacturing facility isn’t in Japan; it’s in Georgetown, Kentucky.”
But even some Republicans aren’t enamored with the president’s tariffs. A POLITICO-Public First poll conducted in June found that 1 in 4 Trump voters say his tariffs are hampering trade negotiations with other countries. And under half of Trump voters would support his tariffs on China — a central pillar of the president’s trade agenda — if the result were to be higher prices at home.
“This is, what was it, first across the board, then reciprocal, then industry-specific,” Beshear told Welker. “I think there was a company-specific tariff proposed. Now, we have tariffs on countries if he doesn’t like who that country is prosecuting. It is chaos. It is increasing costs.”
Beshear also panned the Medicaid work requirements Trump signed into law in his “big, beautiful bill” on July 4. Many Americans support the mechanism, but Beshear called it a “ruse” — that’s “going to be devastating to rural economies.” The Congressional Budget Office estimated that nearly 5 million people could lose Medicaid coverage for noncompliance with work requirements by 2034.
“What they’re doing is they’re doubling the paperwork on everyone, not just able-bodied adults, but everyone,” Beshear said. “What they’re hoping, sadly, is that parents with a special needs child who are really busy don’t check a box, people who are helping their parents or grandparents with their long-term care needs don’t check a box. And then, they kicked off their coverage for six months or more. It is wrong. It’s cruel.”
