Legislation introduced in both Houses of Congress would put checks on the President’s authority to impose Section 232 tariffs. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee which oversees trade, says some of that authority needs to be checked but the measure sponsored by Senators Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mark Warner of Virginia is too strict.
He says there are other pieces of legislation that need to be considered and a reasonable compromise worked out so Congress can get back some of that authority from the President.
Grassley says the Executive office has been grabbing some of the trade authority from Congress going back as far as the 1930s.
The Toomey bill targets Section 232 authority used by President Trump to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on national security grounds. That measure has more than 20 business and agricultural groups that have signed a letter supporting it.
