Koch Network Says Trump Trade Policies Causing Long-Term Damage

The conservative political network led by billionaire Charles Koch opened a conference in Colorado with sharp criticism of President Donald Trump’s trade policies and leadership style as it sought to play up a desire for more bipartisan solutions.

“The policies right now are hurting people,” Brian Hooks, president of the Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute, told reporters Saturday during a briefing session. “But they’re also doing very long-term damage to the country.”

Hooks also specifically called out Trump’s no-compromise style.

“The divisiveness of the White House is causing long-term damage,” he said. “When in order to win on an issue, somebody else has to lose, it makes it very difficult to unite people to solve the challenges in this country.”James Davis, a spokesman for the network, criticized the $12 billion Trump has pledged in aid to farmers hurt by falling commodity prices triggered by the president’s expanding trade war with China, Canada and other countries who are significant purchasers of U.S. pork, soybeans and other agricultural products.

“It’s a bailout of bad policy,” he said. The Koch network, like many traditional Republican groups, has long opposed protectionism and promoted the benefits of free trade.

The comments came as more than 500 donors to the Koch network gathered at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for a three-day meeting. The network, with more than 700 donors who give at least $100,000 per year, has convened such gatherings twice annually since 2003.

“We’ve had divisiveness long before Trump became president and we’ll have it long after he’s no longer president,” Charles Koch told reporters on Sunday, according to The Washington Post. “I’m into hating the sin, not the sinner.”

When asked about the possibility of Democrats taking the majority in the House of Representatives in the November midterms, Koch replied, “I don’t care what initials are in front, or after, somebody’s name. . . . I’d like there to be many more politicians who would embrace and have the courage to run on a platform like this.”

In June, the network said it was planning a “multi-year, multimillion-dollar” campaign to promote free trade and oppose Trump’s moves to impose tariffs on billions of dollars worth of imports from China and elsewhere. The effort is to include advertising, voter mobilization and lobbying.

Keeping the network happy is especially important for Republicans in an election year, with control of the U.S. House and Senate on the line.

Plans call for the network to spend about $400 million on state and federal policy and politics during the two-year cycle that culminates with November’s balloting, a 60 percent increase over 2015-16. In addition to trying to influence electoral politics, the network also works on education, criminal justice, workforce and poverty issues.