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Multiple Republican lawmakers are working alongside Democrats to put forward legislation curtailing Trump’s existing national security tariff powers. They include Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who recently introduced a bill with Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner that would require congressional approval to impose trade restrictions for national security reasons.
“It is not impossible for there to be a very good reason to use trade measures in response to a genuine national security threat,” Toomey told reporters after introducing the bill. “However, we have seen this administration use this tool in a way that was never intended.”
Even as Trump and some of his closest GOP allies in the House continue to push for the US Reciprocal Trade Act, which would give the president authority to raise tariffs in response to various duties and trade barriers American products face abroad, senators are renewing their efforts to challenge the White House’s approach after a bruising year of escalating trade fights, including a painful tit-for-tat trade war with China that cost US farmers and importers while also contributing to economic turmoil in Asia.
Toomey’s bill, a revamped version of legislation initially introduced by former Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker — a frequent Trump antagonist before his retirement last year — expands on the legislation by granting the Defense Department, rather than the Department of Commerce, the power to investigate whether different goods threaten national security.
Toomey’s bill would also provide a narrow definition of “national security” and would limit the items that can be considered under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to those related to military equipment, energy resources, and critical infrastructure.
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Senators are seeking to limit President Trump's authority to impose tariffs unilaterally on national security grounds https://t.co/E2jm2gcQWH
— CNN (@CNN) February 5, 2019
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