House Republican leaders are negotiating with President Trump on a plan to narrow aluminum and steel tariffs so that only countries that dump or otherwise abuse trade policies are affected, Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday.
“We’ve had multiple conversations about this,” Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday. “He knows our view.”
Trump announced he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on all aluminum imports.
Trump said the tariffs are needed to end unfair trade practices, such as dumping of steel and aluminum into U.S. markets and depressing those industries here.
But the president has not finalized the deal and opponents are meeting with the president this week in an effort to talk him into narrowing the tariff plan.
Ryan said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, is working with the president on a tariff plan that would impact the offending nations, such as China, and spare the countries who are trading fairly.
“He’s working on a solution with the administration,” Ryan said. “Talks are ongoing.”
Ryan met with House Republicans early Tuesday in the basement Capitol where many expressed concern that new tariffs would result in lost jobs, higher consumer prices and a trade war.
Ryan said Trump is right to go after dumping and other unfair trade practices, but the approach needs to be moderated.
“Too broad and it’s more prone to retaliation,” Ryan said. “And so what we are encouraging the administration to do is to focus on what is clearly a legitimate problem and be more surgical in its approach so we can go after the real abusers without creating unintended consequences and collateral damage.”
