Senate Finance Chairman Thinks Trump Inclined to Levy Auto Tariffs
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters on Jan. 16 that he thinks President Donald Trump is "inclined to" levy higher tariffs on imported autos and auto parts, though he suggested that the process of doing so could be slowed because of the partial federal government shutdown. "Common sense tells me, if you're looking at a bureaucracy that was going to get something done on Feb. 15 and there's 30 days of missed work, it's going to come out March 15," he said.
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Grassley opposes the tariffs, and would like to bring forward a bill from Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, that would give Congress the ability to veto them. He said he has no timeline yet on how that might be done. However, he added, "I know Europe's very afraid of it. It's probably the only thing that will bring Europe to the table in a reasonable way."
Grassley said that European Union lead trade negotiator Cecilia Malmstrom told him that the EU remains opposed to including agriculture in talks, even though both he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer insist it has to be part of a trade deal. He said he does not expect talks with Japan to start this month, because of the shutdown. He also said he does not expect European talks to begin Feb. 11, which would be the first date they could open under fast track. But European countries have not been sent a mandate to negotiate yet from the European Commission, so it's not clear that Europe would have been ready in less than a month because of their own processes. All 28 countries have to approve that mandate.
Grassley was not as forceful as he was a week ago about the need to lift metals tariffs on NAFTA partners in order to get the votes to pass the new NAFTA. Then, he said that retaliatory tariffs on agricultural goods had to go in order to get votes from farm state representatives. Now, he says, "I don't think the tariffs are going to go away unless there's quotas."