Trump may have miscalculated how much 'pain' Americans are willing to tolerate: analysis

Donald Trump may have miscalculated just how much financial "pain" Americans are willing to tolerate due to his sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, according to a new article in The Washington Post.

Trump posted about the tariffs over the weekend, writing, “WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!) BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.”

Canada then announced retaliatory tariffs, prompting Fox News to produce a list of 23 goods that will have Americans digging deeper into their pockets. They include, "crude oil, beer, avocados, maple syrup, ground beef, cooking oil, and cars.

Trump campaigned on "bringing prices down," so the "pain" he mentioned may surprise his voters, argued Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake.

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Blake cited a YouGov survey showing 29 percent of Americans wanted tariffs increased, 27 percent wanted them to remain the same, and 18 percent wanted them decreased.

"But then we get to the rub," Blake wrote. "The pollster followed up by asking those who supported higher tariffs whether they still wanted them 'even if that leads to higher prices for American consumers. Only about half of those who said they wanted increased tariffs — 52 percent — stood by that position."

In addition, Blake cited a Reuters-Ipsos poll that showed just 9 percent of Americans “strongly” supported increasing tariffs if prices rose.

"In other words, this is something that not many Americans appear to be clamoring for nearly as much as Trump is. And it’s also something that could catch them off-guard in a way that’s very personal to them — especially given Trump’s sales pitch treated the tariffs as a win-win with virtually no downside," Blake wrote, adding, "Now we find out just how much 'pain' his supporters are willing to tolerate."

Read The Washington Post article here.