Portman now against border tax

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rob Portman said Thursday that he would oppose a House Republican plan to impose a 20 percent tax on all goods imported into the United States, a position that will find favor with automotive companies such as Honda.

In an interview Thursday on CNBC, the Ohio Republican said while he recognizes “some of the economic reasons” for a border tax, he urges lawmakers to “go for a more traditional approach” that would include lowering the income-tax rates and making tax code simpler.

Portman joins a number of GOP senators who are opposed to the tax.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is among the leading advocates of the import-tax idea, but it has run smack into opposition from major retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Honda, which employs more than 14,000 people in Ohio. They have argued an import tax could raise prices on goods.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Thursday submitted a vague set of guidelines to Congress for renegotiating the North American Free Agreement with Mexico and Canada, disappointing those who wanted a major overhaul of a decadesold trade deal that Trump described as a “disaster” during the presidential campaign.

Acting U.S. Trade Representative Stephen Vaughn wrote that the administration intends to start talking with Mexico and Canada about making changes to the pact, which took effect in 1994. Trump and other critics blame the agreement for wiping out U.S. manufacturing jobs because it allowed companies to move factories to Mexico to take advantage of low-wage labor.

The submission appears to keep much of the existing agreement in place, including a provision that critics say allows companies to get around environmental and labor laws.

The draft also contains some provisions that were part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country Asia-Pacific trade agreement negotiated by the Obama administration but rejected by Trump.