Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., on Wednesday led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in introducing legislation that would require congressional approval before the president acts to adjust imports on the basis of national security.
Specifically, the bill would amend Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 by eliminating language that authorizes the president to determine any trade actions regarding imports found to impact national security and replacing it with a provision requiring the White House to submit to Congress a proposal for any trade actions within 15 days of making such a determination.
The legislation would subject the proposals to a congressional review period of 60 days, at the conclusion of which both houses of Congress would vote on whether to approve any proposed action.
Pursuant to two Section 232 investigations completed by the executive branch in January, President Donald Trump imposed global tariffs of 25 percent against steel and 10 percent against aluminum, with a few exceptions and wrinkles for certain countries.
The executive branch on May 23 initiated another Section 232 investigation, this one into the national security impacts of automotive imports.
Proponents of the bill reportedly hope to introduce it as an amendment this month during Senate floor debate on the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Corker’s legislation also would subject to the congressional review process any Section 232 determinations within two years before the legislation’s passage, apparently meaning that Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs could be overturned if the bill passes.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., during Tuesday’s weekly GOP leadership press conference said that he didn’t plan to call up the legislation as a standalone bill for a Senate floor vote.
He suggested that the Corker provisions would be contentious, but added, “we’ll see” when asked by a reporter about the likelihood that an amendment containing the language would be introduced during NDAA debate.
The “NDAA’s going to be open,” McConnell said. “We’ll see what amendments are offered.”
Floor debate on the NDAA is expected to begin this week.
Business groups, including the National Retail Federation (NRF) and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, applauded the bill’s introduction, as both cited the possibility of U.S. job losses associated with Trump’s tariffs, as well as authority provided by the Constitution for Congress to oversee trade.
“The U.S. business and agriculture community is profoundly concerned about how newly imposed tariffs — and the inevitable foreign retaliation arriving in the next few weeks — will lead to lost American jobs,” Chamber Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley said in a statement. “This emerging trade war endangers the remarkable economic progress we’ve seen in the past year. The constitutional authority of the Congress to ‘regulate foreign trade’ and its oversight of tariff policy is unambiguous.”
NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French said in a statement, “There needs to be a more appropriate balance on trade policy between Congress and the executive branch. With the threat of a global trade war, Congress must step in before the U.S. economy suffers, American jobs are lost and families are forced to pay more for everyday products.”