President Trump’s request in his State of the Union address for reciprocal tariff powers — the ability to quickly slap levies on countries that have done the same to the U.S. — drew little support from some Republican senators Wednesday. Lawmakers have mostly been looking instead for ways to give Congress more power over the tariff process.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told the Washington Examiner that whether he could support a reciprocal tariff bill “would depend on how it is structured. The devil is in the details.” Asked what would be one of the details that would allow him support it, Johnson said, “I’d like for it to be approved by Congress.” Informed that that was pretty much the opposite of what Trump was requesting, Johnson laughed and said that there may be a problem then.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who is sponsoring legislation to rein in Trump’s ability to use national security as a reason for tariffs, said that reciprocal trade was not something he could ever support. He said the way the tariff mechanic works — by copying other countries’ tariffs — would just lead to the U.S. mimicking others’ bad ideas.
“This is the idea that if someone else is putting mines in their port to sink their ships, you should put mines in your ports to sink your ships,” he said.
Reciprocal trade legislation introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., late month that the president has endorsed would allow Trump to impose tariffs equal to “the rate of duty imposed by the foreign country” without congressional approval. Duffy has argued the authority would give the president more “flexibility in responding to foreign tariffs.” Congress could strike the tariff down but would have to pass a disapproval measure through both chambers.
“If another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the exact same product that they sell to us,” Trump said Tuesday.
