In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin is courting both Trump and China as he seeks reelection.
By Tim Craig Tim Craig National reporter Email Bio Follow May 23 at 7:53 PM LEXINGTON, Ky. — Gov. Matt Bevin gathered 400 Chinese political and business leaders here to deliver a simple message: U.S. states, and especially Kentucky, want a lucrative relationship with them that rises above President Trump’s ongoing trade dispute with China.
That’s especially true here in Kentucky, where there are signs the trade dispute is rattling the state’s soybean and bourbon industries. “This is going to be a tricky thing for Bevin to navigate because he has been staunchly pro-trade and has aligned with his economic views with a strictly market-based approach,” said one veteran Kentucky Republican strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could speak freely about the race. “However, Bevin’s alignment with the Trump administration is absolutely essential to his political career, and now he’s trying to find a way to accommodate both.
“Everyone understands tariffs are not the solution and wants an environment in which they don’t exist, but they are negotiating tools and both sides are using them quite handily,” Bevin said. “But this will end — it won’t last.” Earlier this month, at a conference sponsored by Yahoo Finance, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said it was time for Trump to “wrap up” his trade dispute with China. Ricketts said Nebraska farmers lost more than $1 billion in revenue last year because of the tariffs. But in an interview a few days later with NPR, the Republican was far more restrained in his advice for the White House, saying Nebraska farmers understand Trump is seeking a “fair and balanced” trading partnership with China.
Republican-aligned business groups are also pressuring GOP governors to become more outspoken critics of Trump’s trade policies. Officials with Americans for Prosperity, the main political arm of billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, have been reaching out to governors asking them to be “more public and vocal” about the impacts that tariffs are having on their states, according to Brent Gardner, the chief of government affairs for the group.
Bevin’s outreach earned him fawning coverage from Chinese media outlets. China Daily, a state-run English-language publication, published an editorial titled “Kentucky governor sets an example for rest of U.S. to follow in trade with China.” But Bevin’s approval ratings have fallen amid well-publicized battle with teachers and government workers over the state’s chronically underfunded pension program. Bevin also lost a high-profile budget battle this spring when the Republican-controlled legislature overrode his veto of a tax increase to fund public education.
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