Mike Pence rebukes Trump over tariffs and ‘wavering’ support for Ukraine

Donald Trump’s tariffs policy will trigger a “price shock” and possible shortages, and lead to public pressure on him to change his approach, the former vice-president Mike Pence has said.

In one of his most wide-ranging critiques yet on the policies of the president he used to serve, Pence, speaking to CNN, derided the White House’s “wavering” support for Ukraine and declared – in direct contradiction of repeated assurances from Trump – that President Vladimir Putin of Russia “doesn’t want peace”.

Pence’s comments came in an interview after receiving the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage award in recognition of his refusal to bow to pressure from Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election when he presided over Congress’s certification of the results on 6 January 2021.

The vice president’s determination to carry out his constitutional role and certify Joe Biden’s victory presaged an attack on the US Capitol by a violent mob, who chanted “hang Mike Pence”, as the vice-president was spirited to safety by security personnel.

Pence told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that Trump’s decision to pardon about 1,600 convicted rioters after he returned to office in January “sent the wrong message”.

“I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers that day,” he said.

Addressing tariffs – which Trump has made a signature policy of his second presidency while implementing a 90-day pause on exports from most countries after international markets plunged – Pence said they were “not a win for the American people” and warned that their worst effects had yet to be seen.

“I do have concerns that, with the president’s call for broad-based tariffs against friend and foe alike, that ultimately the administration is advancing policies that are not targeted at countries that have been abusing our trade relationship, but rather are essentially new industrial policy that will result in inflation, that will harm consumers and that will ultimately harm the American economy,” he said.

“Even the administration has conceded that there may be a price shock in the economy, and there may be shortages” after the current pause expires, Pence said.

He said the White House was in danger of stoking a political backlash, citing Trump’s recent comment that tariffs might result in American children having two dolls instead of 30 and that “maybe the dolls will cost a couple of bucks more”.

“Keeping our kids’ toys affordable: that really is part of the American dream,” he said.

“I think the American people are going to see the consequences of this. I think they’ll demand a different approach.”

He criticized the administration for threatening to abandon support for Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump has publicly blamed for Russia’s invasion, while repeatedly praising Putin – relenting only recently after the Russian leader rebuffed peace offers and instead ordered missile attacks on Kyiv.

Pence said: “If the last three years teaches us anything, it’s that Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace; he wants Ukraine. And the fact that we are now nearly two months of following a ceasefire agreement that Ukraine has agreed to and Russia continues to delay and give excuses confirms that point.

“The wavering support the administration has shown over the last few months, I believe, has only emboldened Russia.”

He was equally scathing about Trump’s stance towards Canada, which he had hit with trade tariffs and said he would like to annex as the 51st US state.

Pence, by contrast, called Canada “a great ally, whose soldiers have fought and died alongside Americans in every war since world war one”.