Law 360: Dems Say Trump Must Release Nat'l Security Tariff Report
President Donald Trump’s failure to turn over to Congress a U.S. Department of Commerce report probing national security risks associated with imported auto parts violates federal laws and threatens foreign relations, nine House Democrats wrote in a letter Thursday.
In the letter sent to Trump, members of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of center-leaning Democrats generally amenable to free trade, said Commerce’s report that found auto part imports to be a national security threat should have been released by Jan. 19 as Congress stipulated in the 2020 budget.
Under the budget bill and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which permits trade restrictions to be used to protect national security, Trump must hand over the report to keep his presidential authority in check and protect the job security of U.S. workers, according to the letter.
“Your willful disregard for these laws threatens American workers, as well as the balance of power that is so essential to our Constitution,” the Democrats said.
Trump called on Commerce in May 2018 to launch a Section 232 investigation into foreign auto parts after hitting steel and aluminum imports with tariffs earlier that year in the name of national security.
Before the Trump administration launched a pair of investigations in 2017 targeting steel and aluminum imports, Section 232 hadn't been triggered since 2001. After a prolonged investigation, Trump slapped a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum in March.
The deadline to impose national security tariffs on foreign automakers passed in November without Trump making a move. But the president reignited his threats to set tariffs on cars imported from the European Union on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in January, upping the pressure on Brussels to strike a broad-ranging trade agreement with the U.S.
The U.S. and EU have struggled to launch formal trade negotiations over the past 18 months following early-stage disagreements about the scope of the effort. Brussels wants a limited-scale agreement that leaves out sensitive areas like agriculture, while the Trump administration is pushing for a more comprehensive agreement.
The Democrats in their letter asked the president to drop talk of imposing tariffs on foreign automakers, saying that it would backfire by hurting American workers and the U.S. economy.
Commerce declined to comment, and the White House did not respond to a request to comment.
By: Sarah Martinson
Source: Law 360
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