United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday that the administration may ease steel and aluminum tariffs, a signal that the Trump administration is scaling back its aggressive tariff agenda in reaction to political headwinds.
Greer, speaking on CNBC, said that he has heard from companies that are having trouble complying with the Trump administration’s tariffs. The remarks come just days after some Republicans joined Democrats to vote down President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
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Still, Greer reiterated that the underlying metals tariffs that have been proposed will remain in place.
“You may want to sometimes adjust the way some of the tariffs are applied for compliance purposes,” he said on CNBC. “We’ve heard stories of companies that have had to hire extra people for compliance.
“We’re not trying to have people do so much bean counting they’re not running their company correctly,” Greer said.
Still, Greer said that, overall, tariffs on steel and aluminum have been “very successful” and “going in the right direction.”
Any rollback of the tariffs would be of note, as Democrats have worked to weaponize Trump’s tariff agenda against him. Voters have expressed dissatisfaction with the tariffs, which some have tied to the affordability problems facing families.
A number of food products also received tariff relief from the Trump administration in November, in another move acknowledging that tariffs on certain products can increase prices for domestic consumers. The goods included citrus products, teas, certain cooking spices, pineapples, coconut water, and more.
Greer, at the time, framed the rollbacks as being in “micro areas.”
“Are there micro areas, like bananas or coffee or cocoa or things like that, where we don’t need a tariff? I think that’s right,” Greer said. “The president appropriately used them as leverage to get these deals.”
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The Trump administration’s goal with the tariffs is to rebalance global trade and reshore manufacturing. But Democrats and many Republicans are not fans of such sweeping changes to the trade landscape, particularly major proponents of free trade.
Just last week, in a 219-211 vote, the GOP-controlled House voted to end the national emergency Trump declared on Canada last year. The emergency declaration allowed the president to impose tariffs on Canadian goods and imports. Six Republicans joined nearly all Democrats to back the measure.
