Republicans in Congress are struggling to figure out how to push back against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, NPR reports.
House Speaker Paul Ryan already indicated that the GOP feels helpless to stop Trump’s trade war, saying at an event at the Economic Club of Washington on Thursday: "You would have to pass a law to say don't raise those tariffs and the president would have to sign that law. That's not going to happen."
Although Ryan’s wording makes it sound, to New York Magazine at least, like he’s unaware that Congress can overrule a presidential veto with a two-thirds supermajority, it’s more likely that he meant that Republicans in Congress wouldn’t publicly fight a Republican president, despite their concerns.
The Senate Majority Whip, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters on Thursday that Trump doesn’t want to be constrained by Congress in trade negotiations.
"Many of us don't really see the benefit of getting into a big public fight with the president over this issue," Cornyn said. "There are other ways we can handle it I think that would make the point."
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., was one of three GOP co-sponsors on a bill to limit presidential authority to tax foreign goods based on national security concerns. That bill passed the Senate 88-11, but as a nonbinding measure. Corker told NPR this week that the White House’s strategy is “ham-handed, it lacks any degree of coherency.
He added, "What I do know is that Americans are being hurt by the fact that there is no coherent policy here."
Gary Cohn, the former director of the National Economic Council, warned in June at an event for The Washington Post that "If you end up with a tariff battle, you will end up with price inflation, and you could end up with consumer debt. Those are all historic ingredients for an economic slowdown."
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