Democrats who spent decades greenlighting trade deals that gutted American manufacturing are now branding Trump's new tariffs on more than 80 countries as a "sales tax" — because protecting your job apparently costs them too much.

The framing tells you everything. When politicians who backed NAFTA, cheered China's WTO entry, and watched the Rust Belt hollow out suddenly discover concern for your pocketbook, follow the money. The tariffs replace an expiring 10% global duty and target countries the administration says fail to crack down on forced labor. The real tax on American workers was decades of wage suppression from free-trade betrayal — and the people calling tariffs a "sales tax" collected the dividend.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, called the new tariffs "a nationwide sales tax that will only serve to make life harder for Americans just trying to make ends meet." Rep. Linda Sánchez, a California Democrat, called the forced-labor pretext a sham: "President Trump isn't serious about combating forced labor. He's trying to make an end-run around the Supreme Court and Congress to reimpose his illegal tariffs."

Sánchez raised one fair point — the same tariff rate applies to China, a notorious forced-labor abuser, as it does to Australia. "Then again, unlike China, Australia doesn't manufacture any Trump corporation products," she wrote. She also noted the administration gutted Bureau of International Labor Affairs funding and rolled back domestic worker protections.

But the bigger picture got buried. Sánchez herself acknowledged the U.S. exports goods made with American prison labor — a form of forced labor the free-trade chorus never mentions when tallying tariff costs.

Even Trump's allies are sweating. One White House source told Politico that anything not focused on affordability "is not helpful." Another admitted Republicans are "comfortable with the threat" of tariffs but not with "actual revenue coming away from people's pocketbooks." Translation: tariffs as leverage, fine; tariffs that actually reshape trade patterns, that makes the donor class nervous.

Brazil rejected its 12.5% tariff as "completely arbitrary and unjustified," according to The Guardian. Expect more pushback from partners comfortable with the old arrangement — cheap labor abroad, shuttered factories at home.

All of this plays out as Trump prepares to attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner on Friday — his first time attending — under tightened security after an alleged assassination attempt disrupted the April event. Gunman Cole Allen breached a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton, firing a shotgun that struck Secret Service agent Victor Gonzales's protective vest before being apprehended roughly 120 yards from where Trump was set to speak. The dinner moves to the Waldorf Astoria, with digital tickets replacing printed passes and private security supplementing Secret Service screening. Gonzales will be honored Friday for running toward the shooter.

The question isn't whether tariffs raise prices at the margin. It's whether the alternative — more offshoring, more wage suppression, more dependency on foreign supply chains — costs more. The politicians calling this a "sales tax" never seem to calculate that bill.