Corker Says Progress With EU Hasn't Resolved Need for Section 232 Bill

A Senate effort to constrain the president's power on Section 232 tariffs was not weakened by the White House announcement last week that any tariffs on autos or auto parts would not go into effect against Europe (see 1807250031), Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said in a brief hallway interview July 31. Corker said senators were continuing to talk about his bill this week. He said when the announcement first came out, he was concerned that it could take the wind out of the sails of his bill. But, he said, as people have realized that nothing substantive was achieved in that meeting between President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (see 1807260026), interest in taking action remains.

He said that he heard that the European Union offered to reduce its 10 percent tariff on imported autos to zero if the U.S. would lower its tariff on trucks from 25 percent to zero, and lower its tariff on cars from 2.5 percent to zero. Corker said the U.S. refused.

But Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., expressed skepticism that the Republican leadership would allow a "legitimate economic confrontation with Trump." Republicans, with a few exceptions, "have been scared of him from the beginning, and that remains the case," he said in an interview. And, Murphy said, "even if by some miracle" the Senate passes a bill exerting more congressional authority over Section 232 actions, the House of Representatives would not pass a companion bill. "The Republicans are struggling with that, they're very divided," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in response to a question from International Trade Today at a press conference at the Capitol. He said that because of that division, he doesn't know if Congress will take back the power to decide whether auto and auto parts are a threat to national security.