WATCH: Lawmakers urge Trump to take more targeted approach to tariffs
Lawmakers from both parties are urging President Trump to take a more targeted approach to tariffs, after the president insisted he wasn’t backing down from his push to impose steep taxes on imported steel and aluminum.
“I’d be careful about going that far, what we really would prefer to see is that the president take a more thoughtful approach,” said Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee, who represents the rust-belt state of Michigan, when asked about supporting any measures to undercut Trump’s authority to impose strict tariffs.
Kildee and Republican Rep. Tom Rice (S.C.) told The Hill that they were surprised by the president’s announcement last week of a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The move sent Canada and the European Union warning of retaliatory measures.
Rice, a member of the House Ways and Means Trade subcommittee who was in Mexico City recently sitting in on talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), said Trump’s move was likely a negotiating tactic aimed at getting a better trade deal.
“You know when the president comes out yesterday and said, ‘Well, if we get a fair NAFTA then Mexico and Canada won’t be included in steel tariff,’ maybe that gives you an indication of where the president’s going with these tariffs,” Rice said.
Both lawmakers demurred when asked about imposing restraints on Trump’s ability to impose steep tariffs on imported metal.
Trump has invoked a rarely used legal provision known as Section 232 that allows him to impose tariffs based on national security grounds after the Commerce Department released a study this year saying there was a security risk to the U.S. due to its reliance on metal imports.
“There was discussion on that this morning in conference, where that goes I don’t know, you’d have to ask Paul Ryan,” Rice said in an interview with The Hill.
“I’m not sure that we always want to constrain the ability of the administration to take action when they need to,” Kildee said.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that the Section 232 provision is “a little too broad” and “prone to retaliation.” He urged Trump to take a more “surgical” approach to tariffs and zero in on abuses by China.
Click on the video above to hear the lawmakers in their own words.
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