SENATE SCRAMBLE
Introduce bill requiring congressional approval
Republican senators are under intense White House pressure to quash a bipartisan push to curb Trump’s tariff authority.
WASHINGTON: Senate Republicans are under intense White House pressure to quash a bipartisan attempt to curtail President Donald Trump’s authority to impose tariffs on national security grounds, as he did last week when he slapped duties on steel and aluminium imports from some of the US’s closest allies.
Trump summoned 13 GOP senators to the Oval Office for a late-afternoon meeting on Wednesday that lasted two hours, seeking allies in an effort to push back against proposed legislation that would require the president to get congressional approval for such tariffs.
White House officials argued that the legislation would reduce the president’s leverage in trade talks, according to a person briefed by a meeting participant.
One of the senators who attended the meeting, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, said afterward in a statement, “Now is not the time to undercut President Trump’s ability to negotiate better trade deals. I will not support any efforts that weaken his position.”
Authors of the legislation, including GOP Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, say Trump abused the authority granted under a 1962 law last week because there wasn’t a genuine national security threat.
They are joined on the bill by at least 10 other senators, and Corker said on Wednesday that they might attempt to attach it to an annual defence bill under consideration this week in the Senate.
Corker said Trump called him on Tuesday to discuss the proposal, adding that he made no commitment to back off.
“He doesn’t support the legislation, he opposes it,” Corker said. “At the same time, I was able to talk with him about why I felt it was necessary.”
The effort underscores the growing unease among free-trade lawmakers in both parties as the president continues to take punitive steps against trade partners he says are giving America a raw deal, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Senators who attended the White House meeting included some members of the GOP leadership team, including Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri and Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming.
Some critics of his recent trade moves also were there, including farm-state Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Johnson is a co-sponsor of the new bill.
Corker acknowledged that an attempt to add the legislation to a defence measure may fail. It could be subject to a parliamentary challenge over whether it’s germane to the annual bill authorising defence programmes.
Also, all 100 senators would have to agree to let it get a vote — a particularly tall order since Trump’s opposition hints at a potential veto and the defence measure has broad backing.
Still, the legislation is picking up support from one of the Republican Party’s chief constituencies, the business community. The National Retail Federation and the US Chamber of Commerce said they backed the congressional review proposal.
Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the business community “is profoundly concerned that the new tariffs will spark retaliatory measures in coming weeks that will cost American jobs.
“The constitutional authority of the Congress to ‘regulate foreign trade’ and its oversight of tariff policy is unambiguous,” he said in a statement.
“This modest proposal to clarify congressional prerogatives is welcome and long overdue.”
Several lawmakers have said justifying tariffs on national security grounds was hurting US credibility and inviting retaliation that would hurt an otherwise solid economy.
Mexico, for instance, is imposing a 20% tariff on US agricultural products including apples and 25% duties on Tennessee whiskey in response to Trump’s trade policies.
The proposal by Corker and Heitkamp would require congressional approval of new tariffs that invoke national security interests within 60 days of submission. It would affect not only future actions, but any taken within the last two years.
Besides Corker and Johnson, Republicans who have signed on include Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Mike Lee of Utah, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
Democratic co-sponsors include Mark Warner of Virginia, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
Trump gave no indication Wednesday he would soften his stance.
“We have the worst trade deals ever made and we’re going to have now fair trade deals,” he said at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters.
“I could go deal after deal and it’s been very unfair to our country, to our workers, to our companies and to everybody else involved. And we’re changing them around rapidly.”