Senate Rebukes Trump Trade Tariffs

The U.S. Senate delivered a bipartisan rebuke of President Donald Trump’s trade policies Wednesday by an 88-11 vote in support of congressional authority over decisions to impose tariffs for national security reasons. GOP Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania led efforts to instruct conferees on an unrelated $147 billion spending bill for Veterans Affairs, Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies to “include language providing a role for Congress in making a determination… enabling presidents to impose trade restrictions on security grounds. Trump has cited Section 232 authority under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Conferees will include GOP legislative branch chairman Sen. Steve Daines of Montana. North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp led the Democrat’s rebuke.