House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said Wednesday that he’s working to convince President Trump to only focus his proposed steel and aluminum tariffs on the “bad actors” who subsidize steel production, and not many of the “good actors” that would be hit by his proposed trade action.
“He’s going after the bad actors, the people who cheat on steel and aluminum and cost us American jobs. We’re all with him on that,” Brady said on Fox News.
“The problem is the approach also captures the good actors, in fact, countries that buy a ton of American-made steel and aluminum and a lot of other things,” he said.
Trump’s proposal would impose a 25 percent tariffs on all steel imports, and a 10 percent tariff on all aluminum imports. He has proposed exempting major exporters Canada and Mexico as pat of a renegotiation of NAFTA, but no deal along those lines has been reached.
Brady said he and other Republicans are pushing Trump to take a more tailored action against steel producers that many blame for overcapacity, such as China.
Trump has said a global tariff would hit China, because China transships its steel through so many other countries. But Brady said they are still looking for a remedy that imposes less collateral damage on U.S. trading partners.
“Where we’re at, and a lot of Republicans in the House, is look, Mr. President, go after the bad actors. We’re with you,” he said. “And so we’re going to keep having that discussion with him.”
Brady said he would be sending a letter to Trump on Wednesday to keep making that argument.
