Sen. Grassley Plans Bill To Rein In President Trump's Tariff Power

Press Release:

Incoming Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley said he wants to take up legislation that would limit President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs for national security reasons.

The legislation would be "along the lines of the Portman-Ernst bill," the Iowa Republican told reporters during his weekly press call.

That bill, introduced earlier this year by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), would give the Defense Department, instead of the Commerce Department, the responsibility of using national security to justify any new tariffs.

President Trump has been relying on the little-used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which gives the president broad authority to impose tariffs to protect national security, to hit imports of steel and aluminum with tariffs and is threatening to use it on imports of automobiles and auto parts. Several legislators have criticized that approach, saying such actions are primarily hitting companies and imports focused on commercial businesses rather than defense needs.

The bill would also give the Defense Department the lead in any new investigation, while Commerce would be in charge of recommending a remedy. The proposed legislation would also give Congress the ability to block an action through a joint resolution. In recent action on steel and aluminum, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis offered support for addressing unfair trade practices by China, but said the import threat wasn't so grave that it would affect the ability to acquire the steel and aluminum it needs for national defense.

"That doesn't mean I accept their bill the way it was introduced," Grassley said. "It involves some other determinations than just the president's determination of whether there's a national security legitimacy."

Grassley also said he backs President Trump's threat to pull out of the current NAFTA deal to compel a vote on the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The NAFTA deal includes a provision that allows a withdrawal after providing a six-month notice, but opinions differ on whether the President can act on his own.

Grassley said withdrawing from NAFTA "is the right thing to do" if groups don't fall in line behind the new deal, saying that the administration has made a big push to satisfy labor unions, agriculture groups and other parties.