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Trump digs in on steel, aluminum tariffs
Story Date: 3/8/2018
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 3/7/18
Leaders of both the House and Senate have criticized President Donald Trump's plan to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell making his first public comments on the proposal on Tuesday. The Kentucky Republican said that lawmakers are telling the administration the action could "metastasize into a larger trade war," POLITICO's Nolan McCaskill reported.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has also personally warned Trump about the economic dangers and potential political backlash. And Sen. Orrin Hatch suggested that the trade restrictions would be a tax on American consumers and businesses while detracting from the breakthrough of recent tax cuts.
But GOP lawmakers don't appear to be changing the president's mind on imposing tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. Trump, during a press conference on Tuesday with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, doubled down on his plan - even saying the tariffs will be applied in a "loving way," though he didn't expand on the meaning of that statement.
The president added that action was needed to address the "very unfair trade situation" between the United States and other countries, and he singled out the European Union as an example.
EU promises to target wide range of ag products: Our colleagues at POLITICO Europe obtained a four-page list of American imports that the EU is set to hit with duties of 25 percent to retaliate against Trump's tariffs, totaling nearly $3.5 billion worth of goods. The trading bloc would go after imports of corn, rice, cranberries, peanut butter, orange juice, kidney beans, bourbon whiskey and tobacco - valued at about $1.2 billion.
Groups unite to try to fight efforts: Agriculture and business groups were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to lobby against Trump's pending tariff actions. The effort was led by the National Foreign Trade Council, which announced the formation of a new coalition of more than 30 groups that oppose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, including those representing export-dependent industries and users of the two materials. A range of farm groups are involved, including the American Soybean Association, Beer Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Pork Producers Council and U.S. Wheat Associates. Members will meet with the Senate Finance Committee today.
GMA Spokesman Roger Lowe said in a statement to POLITICO that the organization is continually meeting with members of Congress to explain how the president's proposed tariffs "will act as a regressive tax on food, beverage and consumer products, driving up costs for American families and mitigating economic momentum our industry is beginning to realize via tax reform." GMA and those lawmakers are encouraging the administration to take a "more balanced approach," Lowe said.
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn will resign: Trump's top economic adviser plans to resign in the coming weeks - a move that was disheartening to policy watchers who viewed him as the rare Trump administration official who was good at navigating substantive issues. Some in the White House fear chaos will reign again as it did in the early days of the administration, report POLITICO's Andrew Restuccia and Nancy Cook. "With Gary gone, I just think, from a policy perspective, it means disaster," said one official.
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