Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley has lots of company when it comes to considering limits on the president’s power to impose tariffs on national security grounds. Three Senate bills would reform the so-called Section 232 tariffs. Grassley expects to introduce a bipartisan Section 232 bill in the coming weeks, said a committee announcement.
A 1962 trade law gives the White House the power to levy duties on imports to protect national security. The Grassley legislation would set a time limit on such tariffs unless Congress agrees to an extension of them, said the Finance Committee. The executive branch would be required to report on the achievement of any national security objectives as well as on the economic impact of the tariffs.
Grassley said Congress ceded too much power to the White House in the 1962 trade law, enacted during the Cold War. “Congress should … rebalance trade powers between the two branches in a responsible way,” said Grassley, expressing hope that he and Sen. Ron Wyden, the senior Democrat on the committee, and other senators can write a bill with bipartisan appeal.
Efforts to revamp Section 232 failed last year in the Senate. President Trump used Section 232 a year ago to impose a 25-percent tariff on imported steel and a 10-percent tariff on imported aluminum. The tariffs prompted retaliatory duties on U.S. goods, including farm exports.