Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbent Democrats heading into next year’s midterm elections, is facing criticism for her recent opposition to President Trump’s tariff plans despite a long history of fighting for tariffs while representing union-heavy northwest Ohio.
Kaptur, who has served in Congress since the early 1980s, has been vocally criticizing Trump over his tariff plan, including on the House floor last month when she argued that a 25% tariff on Canada would “raise your prices on everything.”
In February, Kaptur said, “Across our country, people are experiencing a worrisome economic reality. Prices are on the rise. Trade wars and short supply of goods will cause more inflation. Prices are up 3% across the board. Egg prices are up 53%. Too many families are overwhelmed and facing really hard choices.”
Kaptur’s criticisms of tariffs, which have been echoed by many other Democrats as well as some conservatives within the GOP and have also resulted in lawsuits from Democrats who say they will lead to inflation, come after years of promoting the idea of tariffs as a way to “level the playing field” on trade.
“Actually, he’s agreeing with my 25-year battle to try to get attention to America’s trade accounts, to the fact that we have not had balanced trade accounts. They’ve been over half a trillion dollars in the red for over a quarter-century. We have lost thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs. We’ve had production platforms shut down in many major industries, including those I represent,” Kaptur, speaking to BBC in 2018, said in response to concerns that Trump’s steel tariffs in his first term could start a “trade war,” adding that the “whole trade regimen globally needs to be reformed.”
Two years earlier, Kaptur called for the need to “have a real reckoning” on trade while also supporting the use of tariffs during an interview on C-SPAN.
“Every billion dollars of deficit translates to a million lost jobs in this country,” Kaptur said. “A loss of millions of American jobs every year. We have to face that directly.”
“We have to do something. We have to have a response here, whether it’s tariffs on imported goods, whether it’s slowing down the admission of those goods into our country. We don’t want to create walls. We want to create open trade and that would [save] the incomes and livelihoods of millions of Americans across this country.”
The United Auto Workers (UAW) — who Kaptur has previously supported, even touting that her parents were members of the union — has come out in favor of Trump’s tariffs, and in 1994, Kaptur said on C-SPAN that a “large share of our trade deficit is in the automotive area” and largely due to “outsourcing production all over the world,” which had a “tremendous impact on the ability of ordinary people in communities across this country to earn a decent living because we pay our workers more than they do in Mexico or China.”
Kaptur, who narrowly won re-election in 2024 by less than 1 percentage point, is widely considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the House. Her district will be home to one of the most highly watched races as Republicans attempt to hold a thin majority in the chamber.
Cook Political Report ranks the race as a “Democrat toss up” in a state that Trump carried by over 10 points. Trump won the district in 2024 by about 25,000 votes.
Kaptur’s praise of tariffs in the past contrasted with her current objections has sparked criticism from the National Republican Congressional Committee.
“Democrat Marcy Kaptur is so consumed by Trump Derangement Syndrome that she can’t even do what’s right for Ohio workers,” NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon said. “Time and time again, Kaptur proves just how out of touch she is with real Ohioans—flip flopping to push partisan nonsense instead of real solutions.”
Kaptur, who has previously said she stands “shoulder to shoulder” with UAW, has taken thousands of dollars from General Motors Company PAC and Ford Motor Company Civic Action Fund, FEC records show. Both GM and Ford have faced criticism for outsourcing jobs outside the United States.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kaptur defended the use of targeted tariffs while taking issue with the across-the-board approach from the Trump administration that some have linked to recent economic uncertainty.
“The hollowing out of our manufacturing base to the benefit and enrichment of Wall Street has been a decades-long attack on working men and women in my district, and across America,” Kaptur said. “Smart and targeted tariffs are a critical tool in the arsenal to protect workers, and can operate as part of a strategy to fight unfair trade practices from authoritarian nations such as China and Russia.”
“But, the arbitrary and sudden tariffs across the board on more than 180 countries and territories, with exemptions only given out depending on who was able to pay $500,000 for a seat at ‘The Executive Branch’ or $250,000 a piece for a table Mar-a-Lago is unfair,” Kaptur continued. “This comes at the same time this Administration is cutting off critical investments in manufacturing from the CHIPS Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and American Rescue Plan Act, which is eliminating tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs, and is a recipe for pain and failure.”
Kaptur added that the tariffs on Canada “in particular” are “exacting great pain on families, workers, and companies across our region struggling to compete, and are raising the cost of gas, groceries, lumber, housing, cars, and so much more.”
“Trump’s Tariffs hurt working families, while killing the livelihood of those who work in manufacturing, farming, and construction. The Trump Tariffs are a recipe for disaster that are already hurting tens of thousands across the region I represent in Northwest Ohio — we deserve a comprehensive strategy on trade that prioritizes workers, not Wall Street speculators.”
Despite criticisms from both sides of the aisle, Trump’s tariff plan appears popular with several unions, including the UAW, whose president, Shawn Fain, said in late March, “Yes, I disagree with Donald Trump on virtually everything, but [tariffs are] one thing I don’t disagree on.”