Effort to Overrule Trump on Section 232 Tariffs Reintroduced
Bipartisan bills were introduced in the House and Senate to give Congress a veto over potential Section 232 tariffs on autos and auto parts and the ability to rescind the tariffs and quotas on steel and aluminum. The push in the Senate is led by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who also tried to move a similar bill last year, as well as Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
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"The imposition of these taxes, under the false pretense of national security (Section 232), is weakening our economy, threatening American jobs, and eroding our credibility with other nations. I’ve seen, first-hand, the damage these taxes are causing across Pennsylvania,” Toomey said in a Jan. 30 statement as the bill was introduced.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., one of nine co-sponsors, said, "If there is a legitimate national security case to be made for certain tariffs, it should be able to withstand Congressional scrutiny. Close allies and trading partners like Canada and the EU do not threaten our national security."
The lead sponsors in the House are Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. and Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis. Kind, whose district includes dairy farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs from Mexico, said: "It is long past time for this trade war to end, and that will only happen when Congress begins reasserting itself on this critical issue."
Trade groups, led by the National Taxpayers Union and including the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the National Retail Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are circulating a letter to Congress members asking them to support bills introduced that would require congressional approval for either tariffs or quotas under Section 232. The bills, introduced Jan. 30, also would apply retroactively to the steel and aluminum tariffs.
The new bill incorporates an approach Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, included in his Section 232 bill last year. His bill, which was not retroactive, required that the Department of Defense, not the Department of Commerce, certify the national security need.
"The bill would redefine the currently overly broad 'national security' designation for Section 232 investigations to goods involving military equipment, energy resources, and critical infrastructure while also transferring investigative authority to the Department of Defense," the letter says. "We support this and other efforts to restore Congressional powers over tariffs and other barriers to trade."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said repeatedly he does not want to waste Senate floor time on bills that would be vetoed by President Donald Trump, as this one presumably would be. An aide for a Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee expressed doubt that it could pass that chamber with a veto-proof majority. "Most of the GOP caucuses won’t cross the street without Donald Trump’s permission, so even if a super-majority agreed with this on principle -- and that isn’t clear, but arguable -- they’d never vote to overturn a Trump veto here," he said.