The Trump administration is headed for a standoff with congressional Republicans if the president follows through on a threat to impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports next week.
Senate Republicans Tuesday told a group of administration officials in a private lunch in the Capitol that they could vote for a resolution that would block the tariffs if they are imposed under President Trump’s use of the National Emergencies Act.
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The GOP told the White House officials there could be enough Republican disapproval of the tariffs to provide a veto-proof majority on legislation that would prevent him from using the act to justify the tariffs.
“I made that point,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said as he left the meeting. “If I were the White House I would be concerned.”
Republican leaders Tuesday acknowledged it would be difficult to prevent Republicans from voting en mass for a resolution of disapproval that would prevent Trump from using the National Emergencies Act to impose tariffs.
“It’s a hard sell,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said. “There are a lot of concerns among our Republican senators about what the potential impact of tariffs could be on the economy generally and specifically in farm country on our farmers who send our products to Mexico.”
The White House has not said specifically what legal authority Trump would use in raising the tariffs but sources told the Washington Examiner the administration is considering citing the National Emergencies Act, which Trump employed earlier this year to divert money to build a wall along the southern border.
The House and Senate attempted to pass a resolution preventing his use of the National Emergencies Act, Republicans in the Senate blocked the two-thirds needed for passage.
This time, Republicans might not have the president’s back if such a resolution came to the floor, Thune said.
“This would be a heavier lift,” Thune said. “This has a different feel to it than the last time.”
Trump announced his intention to impose the tariffs last week and said he would only call them off if Mexico took action to stop hundreds of thousands of Central American migrants from crossing through the country to reach the U.S. border, where they cross illegally and end up in the custody of overwhelmed Border Patrol officials.
In each of the past three months, more than 100,000 illegal immigrants have crossed into the United States from Mexico, beginning at Mexico’s porous southern border that it shares with Guatemala.
Republicans said they agree with the president that there is a crisis on the border that requires action from Mexico and the U.S., but they disagree with the use of tariffs to try to achieve a solution.
They are pinning their hopes on high-level talks this week between a delegation from Mexico and Trump administration officials this week.
“There is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that’s for sure,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. “I think I can safely say most of us hope the Mexican delegation that has come up here to discuss the challenges at the border, and what Mexico might do to help us more at the border, might be fruitful and that these tariffs won’t happen.”
