WASHINGTON — Loyal Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have long given Donald Trump wide latitude on policy matters, got a reprieve Wednesday from several days of grim economic news, when the president’s pause on his sweeping tariffs sparked a stock market surge.

Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley told reporters that Trump’s 90-day delay on reciprocal tariffs — except those on imports from China — ”brings predictability, it shows moderation. It shows that there’s kind of an end game.”

Speaker Mike Johnson was among several Republicans hailing the move as part of a deliberate presidential plan.

“Behold the ‘Art of the Deal,’” Johnson posted on social media. “President Trump has created leverage, brought MANY countries to the table, and will deliver for American workers, American manufacturers, and America’s future!”

But if GOP allies celebrated the delay as proof of Trump’s negotiating skills, Democrats slammed it as another example of what they deem Trump’s chaotic approach to governing.

Democrats say the tumultuous stock market and economic volatility brought on by Trump’s inconsistent trade policies will continue to inflict pain on Americans — and could have negative repercussions for Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

“There’s no plan,’’ New York Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represents a swing district on Long Island, said at a Ways and Means hearing with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer moments after news broke that the White House was putting off some tariffs.

The reversal, Suozzi said, was “being done kind of willy-nilly at the last minute by the president out of his head. It doesn’t really make sense to us.”

Democrats have been widely critical of the reciprocal tariffs Trump first unveiled at a Rose Garden ceremony on April 2, which he dubbed “Liberation Day.” Members of the minority party — and some Senate Republicans — have framed the import levies as a tax increase and predicted they would crush economic growth.

“Families are struggling,’’ Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said at the Ways and Means hearing Wednesday. “Businesses are panicking. I talked to a business in my district that talked about being ‘tariffed out of business.’”

The electoral ramifications of Trump’s tariff policy 18 months away can’t be known.

“I don’t think we’ll be talking about tariffs a year from now,’’ one Republican operative said. “Who knows if we’ll be talking about them six months from now?”

Midterms on their mind

But Democrats are feeling a fresh flush of confidence following their overperformance in two special House elections in Florida and a win by a liberal candidate for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court last week. Democrats have signaled that they plan to run ads tying GOP lawmakers to the economic uncertainty generated by the tariffs.

“House Republicans are actively supporting the sweeping Trump tariffs to make everything more expensive and crash the economy,’’ DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement. “They are going to lose their majority because of the pain and suffering they are inflicting on working Americans.”

The DCCC’s ambitions were on full display Tuesday, when it rolled out an ambitious initial list of 35 Republican-held seats that House Democrats are targeting next year in a quest to win control of the House.

Among the seats on the list are three in Iowa, where agriculture — a sector vulnerable to the destabilizing impacts of tariffs — is a key economic driver.

Trump carried all three seats last year, with his margins ranging from 4 points in Iowa’s 3rd District, represented by Rep. Zach Nunn, to 10 points in Rep. Ashley Hinson’s 2nd District, according to calculations by elections analyst Drew Savicki. Voters in Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ 1st District backed Trump by 8 points.

The Iowa Democratic Party has already sought to tie the GOP members to the tariffs.

“It’s clear that Iowa’s representatives are either inept or too afraid to fight back — even when our economy is struggling,’’ party chair Rita Hart said in a statement last week. “I’m sure we’ll hear expressions of ‘concern’ but actions speak louder than words and they voted to give away the farm to a president more focused on tariffs than lower prices.”

House Democrats also have their sights on several seats in Ohio, where tariff-related price hikes could carry a significant sting. The Republican incumbents in those districts include Reps. Mike Carey, who holds a seat Trump carried by 9 points, and Max Miller, whose 7th District backed the president by 11 points. However, Republican-led redistricting expected in the Buckeye State this cycle could complicate those Democratic efforts.

On Tuesday, Trump boasted about his negotiating skills while speaking at a National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner.

“I’ll see some rebel Republican, some guy that wants to grandstand, say, ‘I think that Congress should take over negotiations.’ Let me tell you, you don’t negotiate like I negotiate,’’ he said.

Trump predicted that Republicans would have a “tremendous thundering landslide” in the 2026 midterms, adding that they would be “helped a lot by the tariff situation that’s going on.”

By and large, Republicans have publicly expressed faith in Trump’s approach.

“Once the party of American workers, Democrats are now cheering for Beijing while Republicans fight for jobs at home,’’ NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in an email.

But some GOP members are looking for a more conciliatory approach to trade. At the Ways and Means hearing, Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, one of three Republicans to represent a district Kamala Harris won in 2024, stressed the need for Congress and the Trump administration to find “middle ground.”

“Leveling the trade relationship the United States has with other countries, I believe, must be a bipartisan goal, especially when our nation’s security and well-being are on the line,’’ he said.

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