photo by: Associated Press

Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts, left, and Jerry Moran

Topeka ? The two Republican U.S. senators from Kansas reacted harshly this week to President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

The White House announced Thursday that Trump is imposing a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum, saying those industries are vital to American national security and that it was important to protect them from unfair trade practices by other nations.

Canada and Mexico were specifically exempted from that order for the time being.

“This proposal is not a tariff on steel and aluminum imports; it is a tax on consumers,” Sen. Pat Roberts said in a statement Thursday. “As we have seen in past cases of increased tariffs, higher manufacturing costs will inevitably be passed down the supply chain, forcing consumers to bear these costs.”

Sen. Jerry Moran issued a separate statement saying the tariffs could have a big impact on the Kansas economy in particular.

“These tariffs will harm auto, aerospace and other manufacturers in Kansas by risking retaliation against our exports, including food and agricultural products,” Moran said. “I would strongly urge the president to reconsider the impact these tariffs will have on future ag exports, the five million manufacturing and related jobs that use steel or aluminum in addition to the added costs to consumers and American manufacturers who will pay higher prices for inputs, goods and services.”

Trump’s order specifically excluded Canada and Mexico, the United States’ two largest trading partners, because the administration is currently in the process of trying to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

Second District Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, also a Republican, said she was glad that Canada and Mexico were exempted from the tariffs, but said she wished the president had narrowed the order to punish only those countries that she described as “bad actors.”

“National security is paramount, but we should not undercut our key trading partners and strategic allies with broad-based tariffs that raise taxes on American consumers and close markets for U.S. products,” she said in a statement released Friday. “I look forward to continue working with the Trump administration to ensure Kansas businesses and family operations continue to access the global markets they need to sell their products.”

Gov. Jeff Colyer, also a Republican, said Thursday that he, along with several Kansas business groups, had written a letter to the president expressing Kansas’ interest in NAFTA while supporting efforts to update the pact, which he said helps support more than 120,000 jobs in Kansas.

“Our state is heavily dependent on the agricultural and manufacturing industries and we would experience a devastating impact if NAFTA were to go away, placing our most vital industries at risk to their global competitors,” Colyer said in the letter. “As NAFTA renegotiations continue, I am hopeful that the Administration will reach an agreement that modernizes this crucial trade pact and creates an environment that enables Kansas agriculture and manufacturing to thrive.”

Asked Friday, though, whether major changes in trade policy could invite retaliatory tariffs that could affect Kansas, Colyer said that is a possibility.

“They can happen and we are concerned about them,” he said. “But we’re working with the administration. We’ll work with Kansas farmers. The letter was signed by about 50 different major Kansas organizations, and they wanted to show how important trade is to Kansas. We’re an exporting state.”