Republicans in Congress are desperately trying to talk President Donald Trump down from his proposed tariffs, lest they have to consider a legislative check on the White House instead—a move that some lawmakers say isn’t feasible.
House Speaker Paul Ryan pushed back on Monday against Trump’s plan to impose a 25-percent tariff on steel and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum. Most Republican lawmakers have been quick to oppose the proposed tariffs, which they fear could spark a trade war and cause harm to various American industries and consumers, as well as undermine the economic gains Republicans expect from their tax bill.
The tariffs were put forward in the name of national security and supposedly are intended to punish China, but the White House has left it open that they could apply across the board, without exemptions for close trading partners or allies. Canada would be hurt the most by the shift, for example, as it is the primary exporter of steel and aluminum to the United States—China ranks eleventh.
Free-trade advocates on Capitol Hill are urging Trump to reconsider the move, which he expects to take effect this week, calling for some countries to be exempted. Bloomberg reported on Monday that White House economic advisor Gary Cohn is making a last-ditch effort to alter Trump’s decision, setting up a Thursday meeting between the president and professionals from various industries who could be hurt by a trade war, including breweries and automakers. Also pleading with the president, most congressional Republicans are holding out hope that the details of the tariffs could change.
“We want to work with the president to tailor those tariffs to unfairly traded steel and aluminum, especially that from China,” House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady told me. “We have recommendations on how best the president can tailor it to strengthen his hand in this.”
But if Trump doesn’t budge, Congress has the ability to pass legislation to roll back his authority to implement tariffs without congressional approval. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn suggested on Monday that the Senate may hold hearings to examine the steel and aluminum tariffs, and one senior GOP source told me congressional leaders “won’t rule out potential action down the line.” For congressional Republicans, however, legislative recourse represents the worst-case scenario.
Efforts to require congressional approval for new tariffs, such as Sen. Mike Lee’s Global Trade Accountability Act, have stalled in both chambers. “I’m not really sure. I think we’re probably divided on it,” Sen. Thom Tillis told me when asked about how much support exists for such a proposal.
To his point, it was clear on Monday night that this atrophied Congress has little interest in taking back trade authority from the White House, even under current circumstances. “There is zero chance that there is going to be a legislative fix that comes out of the House and the Senate to address this issue,” said House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows. He also avoided taking a stance on whether he would support such a bill.
“It’s a hypothetical. I’m not going to answer,” he said. “It just is not going to happen.”
But when have slim odds ever stopped the Freedom Caucus from pursuing something before? “The nature of the party in power is that everybody wants to be deferential to the executive branch, but that’s not what the founding fathers intended,” said Freedom Caucus member Mark Sanford, in response to Meadows’s doubt about rolling back the president’s authority. “Doing anything less than robustly pushing back against a stupid and destructive and dangerous idea … would come back to haunt all of us.”
Sanford gave the most passionate speech against the tariffs of the night, telling me they are “disastrous” and that Congress should reconsider Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the provision that Trump and his trade team are using to advance their steel and aluminum tariffs without congressional approval.
“We have to go back and revisit Section 232 if it’s going to be abused and misused in the way in which he’s talking,” Sanford said. “Help me understand the national defense danger of trading with one of our closest allies and our nearest neighbor to the north, Canada. Because Canada is really who we’re talking about here.”
Others were less eager to criticize Trump.
“I don’t want this to turn into a turf battle,” Louisiana senator John Kennedy told reporters on Monday night, insisting that Trump’s tariffs are up for debate, even in light of the president’s announcement last week. “We don’t know yet what the policy is. I know there’s been some discussion of it, but until you see the actual directive and the reasoning for it, we don’t know,” he said on his way to votes.
“I’m not going to get all lubed up before I see the final product,” he added.
South Dakota Republican senator Mike Rounds echoed his colleague’s tempered response. “When you’re talking about significant changes, a healthy discussion within the halls of Congress is probably very appropriate,” he said.
Whether such a discussion is likely and could produce anything substantive is another matter. Asked if Republicans would have enough support to pass legislation to assert Congress’s will if Trump doubles down on the tariffs, Brady hedged. “Well, right now we’re focused on helping him tailor this,” he said. But the Texas Republican added that the law which grants Trump the authority to impose the steel and aluminum tariffs anticipates that the White House will monitor their effectiveness, leaving the option to refine them in the future.
“So, we don’t expect this to be the final decision,” Brady told me.
