GOP lawmakers consider blocking Trump's tariffs on Mexico - Entrepreneur Generations

Congressional Republicans are considering blocking President Trump's planned tariffs on Mexico because they increasingly agree that the new tariffs will cost American businesses and consumers more money, according to people with inside knowledge. "Trump has said he would put in place 5 percent tariffs on all Mexican goods as of June 10, rising by another 5 percent a month until October, unless Mexico stops all illegal migration into the United States," Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim, and Damian Paletta report for The Washington Post

The U.S. has a free-trade agreement with Mexico, so Trump must declare a national emergency at the border to enact the tariffs. But Congress has the right to override the national emergency declaration by passing a resolution of disapproval, the Post reports.

"Congress passed such a resolution in March after Trump reallocated the border wall funds, but he vetoed it. Now, as frustration on Capitol Hill grows over Trump’s latest tariff threat, a second vote could potentially command a veto-proof majority to nullify the national emergency, which in turn could undercut both the border-wall effort and the new tariffs," the Post reports.. "The vote, which would be the GOP’s most dramatic act of defiance since Trump took office, could also have the effect of blocking billions of dollars in border wall funding that the president had announced in February when he declared a national emergency at the southern border."

On Monday, lawmakers from both parties urged Trump to abandon the tariffs, and threatened not to pass the pending trade deal with Mexico and Canada. White House officials said they still planned to impose the tariffs, which they said are unrelated to the trade deal, the Post reports.

Some lawmakers, including Republicans, have said that Congress should restrict the executive branch's authority to impose such tariffs. "Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., has introduced a bill that would require congressional approval before a president imposes tariffs under the auspices of national security, and again on Monday made a case for his legislation," the Post reports.

"As a general matter, I think Congress has shifted and delegated way too much power to the executive branch over decades," Toomey said. "This is not an observation about Donald Trump. That’s a general thing that Congress has done, and now we’re seeing the consequences of that in ways that nobody expected, nobody anticipated and, frankly, I think, many members of Congress don’t agree with."

from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/317zauG GOP lawmakers consider blocking Trump's tariffs on Mexico - Entrepreneur Generations

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