Senate Majority Leader Says GOP Lawmakers Concerned Section 232 Action 'Could Metastasize'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell broke his silence on steel and aluminum tariffs, which have sparked strong reactions from Republicans in both chambers since the surprise announcement last week (see 1803010029). "There is a lot of concern among Republican senators that this could metastasize into a larger trade war, and many of our members are discussing with the administration just how broad, how sweeping this might be," he said at a news conference March 6. He noted that President Donald Trump has suggested an exemption for Canada and Mexico might be tied to concessions in NAFTA renegotiations. "From a Kentucky point of view, NAFTA's been a big one, we've benefited from it in every way," the senator from Kentucky added. McConnell said that if the tariffs create disruption, "it could send our economy in the wrong direction."

Republicans in the House pressed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on the tariffs as well, when he was there to testify on the budget. Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, of Utah, also mentioned the issue in his opening statement at a hearing on counterfeit imports, saying that the inflationary effects of tariffs "would blunt the benefits of tax reform for all Americans." Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement for the same hearing that he hopes the Finance Committee will soon have hearings "on the administration’s many trade activities -- including the steel and aluminum investigations and potential tariffs, the NAFTA renegotiations, and the investigation of China under Section 301."

Meanwhile, aluminum producers, who are the companies Trump is aiming to rescue with a worldwide 10 percent tariff, sent a letter March 5 that thanked him for his attention but adding that the tariff as described would do more harm than good, and would do little to address the core problem of Chinese overproduction and subsidies. Canada, the European Union and other market economies should not face tariffs, the aluminum companies said (see 1803020018).