White House economic adviser Gary Cohn tried to stop President Trump from wounding himself. When Cohn failed and Trump announced steep steel and aluminum tariffs that will directly harm most American manufacturers and destroy jobs, Cohn resigned.
Those keen on rooting out what they view as “globalist” influences from the administration would be very wrong to gloat over Cohn’s departure. For it smacks less of the typical Trump White House chaos than it does of someone jumping from a ship before it drives into the rocks.
Cohn’s decision to leave now, before he is blamed for the consequences of a bad policy with which he disagreed, illustrates just how erroneous Trump’s current tack could be. Taxing foreign steel and aluminum flies in the face of every reputable economist’s recommendation, regardless of their politics. It will make almost all Americans poorer. If this decision reflects a full embrace of protectionism, and if it sparks a trade war, it could be the beginning of economic calamity. Some say the tariffs could effectively negate the benefits of Trump’s tax reform bill.
The real problem, though, is that decisions such as these should never have been left in the hands of just one man, let alone a man who has tweeted that “Trade wars are good, and easy to win” and who defends this decision on Twitter by stating simply, “Sorry, it’s time for a change!”
The fact that Trump has this power in the first place is part of a disturbing trend of Congress handing excessive power over to the president — not only in trade, but in a number of other areas as well. For example, thanks to sanctions laws that granted presidents far too much discretion, former President Barack Obama was permitted to negotiate what amounted to a treaty with Iran without the support of so much as a bare Senate majority.
Now, because of a trade law that likewise grants the president far too much discretion in imposing tariffs, Trump has been able to endanger the nation’s trade status overnight based on the fiction that American power and prestige revolve around the manufacture of metals at the expense of all other manufactured goods.
That’s why Congress needs to step up now and reassert its role in U.S. trade policy, restoring an important check against presidential power. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has a bill to do just that. The Global Trade Accountability Act would require congressional approval of all unilateral trade actions, including tariffs and other restrictions on imports.
This bill has now been languishing in the Senate Finance Committee for more than a year, but it’s time to dust it off and at least try to pass it over Trump’s veto. This seems like a high hurdle, as it would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. But it might be less impossible than it seems, and it’s worth a try.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is no state in the U.S. where there are more jobs producing steel and aluminum than there are manufacturing jobs that consume steel and aluminum. This means that every single senator and most members of the House represent constituencies where Trump’s tariffs will endanger more jobs than they protect.
What’s more, there are only three U.S. states with more than 10,000 steel and aluminum production jobs — Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And 32 senators, including 15 Democrats, represent states where there is no steel or aluminum production at all. Eleven other Democrats represent states with less than 1,000 jobs in steel and aluminum production.
Republicans now have the chance to save Trump from himself — to prevent a gut-punch to an economy that has finally begun to recover after years of stagnation. Democrats have the chance to tell their base they just resisted and restrained Trump by passing a bill over his veto. And if these partisan motives are not enough, this is a chance to rise above partisanship for the common good.
It’s a win-win for everyone — even Trump.
