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Article snippet: MORE and his allies took a victory lap on Friday, as new job numbers showed the overall unemployment rate dropped to an 18-year low, with black unemployment hitting its lowest rate on record. The economy has expanded at a robust rate throughout Trump’s time in office, and many observers believe it will be the strongest card Republicans can play as they campaign in November’s midterm elections. Yet the jobs report came at the end of a week that has also seen fears of a trade war rise sharply. The EU as well as the other nations have pledged retaliatory tariffs and the rhetoric on the issue is becoming more heated all the time. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the U.S. tariffs “illegal.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told NBC News on Friday that the idea that his nation was a security threat to the U.S. — one of the rationales offered by the administration for the sanctions — was “frankly insulting and unacceptable.” The stock market seemed to shrug off worries about a possible trade war on Friday, however, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 219 points, or about 1 percent. Allies of the president are adamant that the economy will play to the GOP’s advantage going into the midterms, even as the broader environment — and electoral history, which has often shown the president’s party losing seats in first-term midterm elections — looks tough. “History is against the president but the record is with the president,” said Brad Blakeman, who... Link to the full article to read more