EXCLUSIVE: House Dems launch effort to condemn Trump’s Canada, Mexico tariffs
News: California Democratic Rep. Jim Costa is leading a dozen Democrats in a new push to condemn President Donald Trump’s Mexico and Canada tariffs.
Costa is introducing a concurrent resolution that claims Trump’s tariffs on imports from two of the United States’ biggest trading partners violate the USMCA, the major North American trade agreement between the three countries from Trump’s first term.
The other Democrats joining Costa’s resolution are Reps. Greg Stanton (Ariz.), Tim Kennedy (N.Y.), Mike Quigley (Ill.), Sam Liccardo (Calif.), Salud Carbajal(Calif.), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Adam Gray (Calif.), Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Betty McCollum (Minn.) and Jim McGovern (Mass.).
The measure also praises the USMCA, saying it supports 17 million jobs.
The new effort from House Democrats comes as Trump is expected to announce a big new slate of tariffs later today. Trump’s ever-escalating trade wars have already riled markets and frustrated some Republicans in Congress who remain more traditional free traders.
The GOP irritation is high enough that a few Republican senators are expected to join with Democrats today on a Senate resolution terminating the national emergency declaration Trump is using to justify the Canada tariffs. Probably not the “Liberation Day” gift Trump is looking for!
But the House adopted a rule that blocks members from bringing up resolutions to end the national emergencies underpinning Trump’s tariffs. So the Senate resolution is largely symbolic. Still, it sends a message.
For Democrats, the tariff anxiety and related economic turmoil are political gifts. They’re keen to seize on it to bash the Trump economy and what the president’s trade policies could mean for the cost of everyday goods.
Exclusively written by Laura Weiss, PunchBowl News | Read more at PunchBowlNews.com