Sen. Kennedy: “Tough as a Boot” — 70 Countries at the Table Because of Trump; “Pretty Please, Take the Zero-Tariff Deals”

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana delivered one of his most colorful Senate floor speeches in April 2025, praising Trump’s tariff strategy while urging him to close deals. “Donald J. Trump is tough as a boot, whether you like him or not,” Kennedy said. “70 out of 195 countries have come to the table — in Louisiana, we say they’ve come to the lick-a-log.” He urged Trump to accept the zero-tariff offers: “Vietnam is offering zero tariffs. Taiwan’s offering zero tariffs. The EU’s talking about it. Pretty please with a cherry on top — take the deal, Mr. President. Our economy will roar."

"Tough as a Boot”

Kennedy opened by establishing the premise that nearly everyone agreed with.

“Any fair-minded person would have to conclude that Donald J. Trump is tough as a boot,” Kennedy said. “Whether you like him or not. The man’s tough as a boot. Whether you agree with him or disagree with him.”

He stated the counterfactual: “We would not be in the position that we in America are right now, but for him.”

Kennedy then asked the key question: “And what is that position?”

The answer: “There are 195 countries in the world. 70% of them are begging the president to negotiate a deal through which they can lower their trade barriers.”

He established the baseline: “Every fair-minded person knows that many foreign nations have used trade barriers to hurt Americans and to hurt the American economy.”

Kennedy offered his own folksy observation: “God created the world, but everything else was made in China. Where do you think that expression came from? It came from China cheating through its tariff barriers and its trade barriers."

"They’ve Come to the Lick-a-Log”

Kennedy introduced a Louisiana expression that captured the diplomatic situation.

“President Trump said, ‘I’m going to do something about it.’ And he did. And boy, did he get the attention of every other country — including, but not limited to, those countries that have been cheating,” Kennedy said.

“They are now coming to the table,” he continued. “And in Louisiana, we say they’ve come to the lick-a-log.”

He explained: “Do you know what a lick-a-log is? A lick-a-log is a tree — a fallen tree — that farmers and ranchers used to go to, and they would hollow out a trough. And they’d put salt and other minerals in that trough in the fallen tree that cattle and horses like to lick. And it makes the cattle and horses healthier. That’s what a lick-a-log is.”

He applied the metaphor: “The expression is, when you get somebody to the table, you say they’ve come to the lick-a-log. Well, President Trump has got these countries — 70 out of 195 have already come to the table and said they want to lower their tariffs. And I think that’s a good thing.”

The lick-a-log metaphor was pure Kennedy — a piece of agricultural Americana applied to international diplomacy. The image of 70 nations lined up like cattle at a salt trough captured both the attractiveness of the American market and the leverage that tariffs had created.

Zero Tariffs: “Competition Makes Us Better”

Kennedy repeated his zero-tariff proposal, expanding it from Canada to the entire world.

“I’ve been preaching on this Senate floor for two weeks that what Prime Minister Carney in Canada and what President Trump and America ought to do is turn to each other and say, ‘Let’s have zero tariffs,’” Kennedy said. “‘Zero Canadian tariffs on American goods and zero American tariffs on Canadian goods. Get government out of it. Let good Canadian companies and good American companies compete. Competition makes us better. May the best product at the best price win.’”

He broadened the vision: “I want to say that should happen all over the world. And we’ve got the opportunity to help make that happen, thanks to Donald Trump.”

Kennedy acknowledged the controversy: “And I know some people are mad at him. But we wouldn’t be in this position with this kind of leverage without him doing what he did."

"The Pit Bull That Caught the Car”

Kennedy then delivered the analogy that framed his advice.

“He’s a pit bull. He’s a Rottweiler. We know that — tough as a boot,” Kennedy said. “But he’s the pit bull that caught the car.”

He posed the question: “The issue before America right now, and I don’t know the answer to it — what’s President Trump going to do with that car? I don’t know.”

He described his uncertainty: “I listened to his aides on television this weekend. They were all over the place.”

Then his recommendation: “Here’s what I hope he does. I would sit down with each one of those countries that wants to lower its trade barriers — some go to zero — and I’d say, ‘I’ll take that deal. And we’ll do the same.’ That’s what free trade is."

"Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top”

Kennedy built to his conclusion with characteristic charm and urgency.

“Vietnam is offering zero tariffs,” he said. “Taiwan’s offering zero tariffs. The European Union’s talking about it. China’s all bowed up, but they’ll make a deal.”

He stated the core insight: “No reason they’re at the table lowering tariffs is because of President Trump.”

Then the plea: “Take the deal, Mr. President. Please. With a pretty please with a cherry on top.”

He described the potential: “Take the deal. Our economy will roar. It’ll be better for the world economy.”

Kennedy repeated the appeal: “You’ve won. So, Mr. President, if you’re listening — you’re probably not, but if you are — once again, pretty please with a cherry on top. You’ve won.”

He outlined the next step: “Please, today, call Secretary Bessent — your very able Treasury Secretary — and you and he sit down with every one of these countries that want to lower their trade barriers and let’s make a deal.”

The closing vision: “Let’s lift America up. Let’s lift the world up. Let’s lift trade up. Let’s reduce these trade barriers and let people compete. Let American businesses compete. Let foreign businesses compete. May the best product at the best price win. That’s free enterprise.”

The Kennedy Role

Kennedy’s speech occupied a unique position in the tariff debate. He was not opposing Trump — he repeatedly praised the president’s toughness and credited him with creating the negotiating leverage that made zero-tariff deals possible. But he was urging Trump to convert that leverage into actual agreements rather than maintaining high tariffs indefinitely.

The “pit bull that caught the car” metaphor captured the concern: Trump had succeeded in getting the world’s attention and bringing 70 countries to the negotiating table. The question was whether the administration would close deals that locked in the gains or continue escalating tariffs in pursuit of even better terms.

Kennedy’s advice — take the zero-tariff offers from Vietnam, Taiwan, and others — represented the free-trade wing of the Republican Party at its most constructive: acknowledging that Trump’s tariffs had been necessary to create leverage while arguing that the ultimate goal should be a world with less government interference in trade, not more.

Key Takeaways

• Kennedy praised Trump as “tough as a boot” and credited him with bringing 70 of 195 countries to the negotiating table — “they’ve come to the lick-a-log.”
• He called Trump “the pit bull that caught the car” and asked: “What’s he going to do with it?”
• Specific offers cited: Vietnam zero tariffs, Taiwan zero tariffs, EU in discussions, China “bowed up but they’ll make a deal.”
• Kennedy’s plea: “Pretty please with a cherry on top — take the deal. You’ve won. Our economy will roar.”
• His vision: “Zero tariffs on both sides. Let American and foreign businesses compete. May the best product at the best price win.”