A bipartisan group of the US senators has reportedly urged for an independent review into the Trump administration’s process for granting imported tariffs exemptions on aluminium and steel products.
Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey, an ardent free-trader, joined centrist Democrats Doug Jones of Alabama and Tom Carper of Delaware on Monday, November 26, in demanding a review by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The senators claimed that the US Commerce Department, as of last month, had processed about one-third of the nearly 50,000 requests for exemptions.
“Members of Congress and U.S. businesses have repeatedly raised concerns about the pace, transparency, and fairness of the Section 232 steel and aluminium exclusion process,” the senators wrote in a letter to GAO head Gene Dodaro.
Section 232 is part of the U.S. trade law that allows tariffs over national security concerns.
The United States’ 25 per cent additional tariff on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminium had come into effect in March for most countries and in June for Mexico, Canada, and the European Union.
A GAO report next year may fuel a legislative push to architect a new exclusion process or limit the President’s ability to impose national security tariffs without congressional approval.
This year, Toomey and Jones had also put a joint effort to advance legislation aimed at limiting Trump’s power to unilaterally impose tariffs, but that failed to gain traction in the Senate.
Aluminium and steel product manufactures in both Pennsylvania and Alabama are reportedly suffering from the US metal tariffs and retaliatory duties imposed by China and allies like Canada, Mexico, and the EU. According to the data by the US Chamber of Commerce, a total of US$ 4.4 billion worth Alabama exports and US$ 4.1 billion worth shipments from Pennsylvania are under threat due to the trade war.
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