The contest to be the new face of Senate Republicans is coming to a head this week, with three contenders all positioning themselves as the most acceptable choice to their colleagues and President-elect Donald Trump.

There is one issue none may want to dwell on during the final stretch: tariffs.

That's because all three men — Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, John Cornyn of Texas, and Rick Scott of Florida — have offered measured words in the past on Trump's unilateral authority to impose tariffs as well as whether they think tariffs are even a good idea.

Whoever wins will have to confront the issue in the months ahead as the next Senate Majority Leader replacing Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Trump has pledged to make tariffs a centerpiece of his second term agenda and ams to enact possible 60% duties on China in addition to 10% or higher tariffs for other US trading allies.

And the now president-elect also laid down a marker of sorts during the campaign, saying "I don't need Congress, but they'll approve it. I'll have the right to impose them myself, if they don't."

Just this weekend, Scott suggested he might differ, at least in terms of the process.

The US senator from Florida said a tariff action is "most likely is going to require 60" Senate votes to be enacted. "You have to get everyone together," he added in the Sunday interview on Fox.

Experts differ, but many say Trump could largely be right on this issue after recent decades where lawmakers have ceded much of Capitol Hill's tariff power to the Oval Office.

The president is now often allowed, after varying internal processes, to move unilaterally and keep lawmakers out of the loop if he wants.

Whether Scott, Thune or Cornyn will want to test the president's unilateral tariff authority remains to be seen, but the latter two candidates have offered critiques in the past.

In fact, when Axios looked this summer at Republicans breaking with then-candidate Trump on the issue, Thune and Cornyn were the top examples.

A particular concern is Trump's often-discussed "across the board" tariffs of 10% or higher on a wide array of goods, even from US allies.

"There are ways that you can selectively use [tariffs] as a tool to achieve economic policy outcomes, but just uniform, across-the-board tariffs is not something I have been for in the past," Thune told the outlet, with Cornyn adding that across-the-board tariffs could be potentially "problematic."