Business groups applauded Wednesday as a group of bipartisan legislators introduced legislation that would limit President Trump’s ability to institute tariffs on national security grounds without congressional approval.
“Tariffs based on national security are misguided, and the policy needs to be changed so that companies across the country can start to recover from the damaging effects these actions have caused,” said Rufus Yerxa, president of the National Foreign Trade Council.
The legislation, dubbed the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act, was introduced Wednesday by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Mark Warner, D-Va. The legislation has five additional GOP co-sponsors, three Democratic ones, and the backing of Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.; Ron Kind, D-Wis.; Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif.; and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., are sponsoring the House version.
The effort is mainly in reaction to Trump’s tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports. In levying the tariffs, the Trump administration cited Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which involves national security, arguing it needed to protect domestic industries so they could supply military needs.
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An ad hoc group called Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users said the tariffs resulted in companies “paying hundreds of dollars more per ton for steel than their overseas competitors. This has resulted in lost business opportunities.” It added that the domestic steel industry “cannot produce enough steel to meet demand, meaning that U.S. steel-users are seeing longer and longer delivery times from their steel U.S. suppliers, contributing to uncertainty and lost business.”
Lawmakers argued that the White House had abused the intent of the national security exception. “Over recent decades, Congress has ceded its constitutional responsibility to establish tariffs to the executive branch,” Toomey said. “This measure reasserts Congress’ responsibility in determining whether or not to impose national security-based tariffs.”
The real reason for the tariffs, lawmakers said, was to pick a trade fight with China. “If there is a legitimate national security case to be made for certain tariffs, it should be able to withstand congressional scrutiny,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. said. “Close allies and trading partners like Canada and the EU do not threaten our national security.”
