Bill would give tariff power to Congress
Toomey leads effort as trade war worsens
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States will impose 10% tariffs on an additional $ 300 billion worth of Chinese imports at the end of August, as trade talks between the world’s two largest economies drag on without a deal.
As Mr. Trump escalates the trade war, however, many in Congress — U. S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R- Pa., chief among them — are seeking to rein in the president’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs.
Hours before the president’s announcement, Mr. Toomey and Sen. Tom Carper, D- Del., introduced legislation that would prohibit the president from imposing tariffs by declaring a national emergency.
The bill, called the Trade Certainty Act, would remove the tariff authority from powers a president can use by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Mr. Trump cited that law in May when he threatened Mexico with 5% tariffs if it did not do more to crack down on illegal immigration into the United States.
Though Mr. Trump ultimately pulled back on that threat, American businesses with supply chains enmeshed in Mexico had to scramble for days and remain anxious about the prospect of tariffs. The president declared a national emergency at the southern border in his effort to build a border wall and direct more funding for the border patrol.
The law provides Congress the power to terminate a national emergency, but Mr. Trump vetoed such a resolution in May.
Lawmakers have not been able to muster the twothirds majority vote in each chamber required to override the veto.
The law “was never intended to delegate to the president unilateral tariff-making power,” Mr. Toomey said in a statement. “Our bipartisan legislation ensures the executive branch cannot use [ the national emergency law] as a justification for taxing Americans who buy foreign goods.”
Tariffs have been a weapon of choice for the Trump administration to pressure other countries to cooperate with U. S. demands.
For his tariffs on China and other countries, Mr. Trump has relied, in an unprecedented manner, on two other sections of trade law: Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
U. S. negotiators are trying to work out a complex trade agreement with China that covers intellectual property rights and the Chinese government’s wide- ranging subsidies for manufacturers.
Mr. Trump used the Section 232 justification — a Cold War- era statute that allows the president to deem imports a national security threat — to impose tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports in March 2018. The U. S. applied those tariffs to Canada and Mexico while the three countries renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement, then dropped them this year after a deal was reached.
Mr. Toomey, a critic of the steel and aluminum tariffs, has been working to build support for legislation that would require the president to seek permission from Congress to impose Section 232 tariffs.
That bill, called the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act of 2019, would repeal the current steel and aluminum tariffs if Congress does not approve them within 75 days. It would also create a more straightforward process for U. S. companies to seek exclusions from the Section 232 tariffs.
With nine Republican and nine Democratic cosponsors, the bill could come up for consideration in the Senate Finance Committee in September.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has used Section 301 to impose penalties on imports of Chinese goods over the last year.
In May, Mr. Trump increased U. S. tariffs to 25% from 10% on $ 200 billion of Chinese imports. The long list of items subject to those higher U. S. tariffs includes housewares, technology, sporting goods and basic essentials: everything from pens, flashlights and greeting cards to smartphones, TVs and microwaves to sweaters, sunglasses and hair dryers.
Thursday’s announcement adds another $ 300 billion worth of Chinese products to that list and assigns a 10% tariff to take effect on Sept. 1. Mr. Trump blamed China for failing to keep its promise to buy more U. S. agricultural products.
The new tariffs will likely be met with new retaliatory tariffs from China, which has penalized U. S. exports such as soybeans for more than a year. Many Pittsburgh businesses, ranging from bicycle shops to soybean farms to equipment makers, have expressed concern about a lengthy trade war with China.
Altogether, the U. S. tariffs will tax essentially all Chinese imports — a prospect U. S. business groups have watched with growing alarm. A slew of statements from trade associations on Thursday criticized the new tariffs and pressed the administration to come up with a different way to negotiate.
“We are disappointed the administration is doubling down on a flawed tariff strategy that is already slowing U. S. economic growth, creating uncertainty and discouraging investment,” said David French, senior vice president for government relations for the National Retail Federation. “These additional tariffs will only threaten U. S. jobs and raise costs for American families on everyday goods.”
“The tariffs imposed over the past year haven’t worked,” Mr. French added, “and there’s no evidence another tax increase on American businesses and consumers will yield new results.”