Seven Republican Senators Take Trump to Task on Steel Tariffs on NAFTA Partners
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and a half-dozen Republican colleagues told President Donald Trump that the decline in the stock market since October is due partly to higher tariffs, and they used his own words against him to argue that steel and aluminum tariffs should be lifted on Canada and Mexico. Their letter, sent Jan. 28, starts by quoting a Trump tweet from March 2018 that said steel and aluminum tariffs in North America "will only come off if a new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed." They noted that he signed the new NAFTA at the end of November, but that the tariffs haven't been lifted.
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The tariffs are damaging long-term business relationships and supply chains, they said, and metal-consuming businesses are put at a disadvantage to foreign competitors who can buy steel and aluminum more cheaply. "The best way to achieve China's full compliance and end its theft [of intellectual property] is by presenting a united front with our global allies demanding that China follows the rules," the senators wrote. "Ending the steel and aluminum tariffs will help create the coalition required to do so."
Earlier the same day, Trump tweeted enthusiastically about the Section 232 tariffs, but called them antidumping measures. "Tariffs on the 'dumping' of Steel in the United States have totally revived our Steel Industry. New and expanded plants are happening all over the U.S. We have not only saved this important industry, but created many jobs. Also, billions paid to our treasury. A BIG WIN FOR U.S.," he wrote.