Business, agriculture trade groups urge Senate to support Corker-Toomey tariff legislation

Fifty-one national trade groups, 222 state and local chambers, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. senators urging them to support a bill that would require the president to submit to Congress any proposal to adjust imports in the interest of national security under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

Groups that signed the letter included the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the National Retail Federation, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, and the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

“The U.S. business and agriculture communities are deeply concerned that the President’s unrestricted use of section 232 to impose tariffs may not be in the national interest,” the letter said. “It is now also increasingly clear that the way the steel and aluminum tariffs have been used will result in retaliatory tariffs from our largest trading partners and closest allies, and that retaliation will have serious negative economic impacts on the United States.”

U.S. Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Pat Toomey (R-PA) authored the legislation.

“It’s a bad idea for the administration to claim ‘national security’ as a pretext to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum from our closest allies,” Toomey said. “These misguided taxes only harm American consumers, workers, and companies. I appreciate the vast support for our legislation to reassert Congress’ constitutional responsibility on trade. The Senate should act in order to ensure Americans can keep buying affordable products and selling our goods abroad.”