U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania has emerged as one of the most vociferous opponents of President Donald Trump’s tariff moves.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax, longtime free trader Toomey spelled out his sharp differences on trade with Trump.
"I’ve been very critical of the Section 232 tariffs," Toomey told Newsmax, referring to the portion of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 under which Trump imposed the sanctions.
Last week, by a vote of 88-to-11, the Senate adopted a non-binding motion to instruct conferees to include language "providing a role for Congress in making a determination under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962" in the final legislation developed by the Senate and House conference committee.
The Pennsylvanian pointed out Section 232 is intended for national security situations, when tariffs are needed to protect the security of the United States.
"To suggest that when my constituents choose to buy some steel from Canada — which by the way the U.S. buys in very modest quantities relative to total steel consumption, that somehow that it’s a threat to the United States national security, it’s simply not true," he said.
He added that, "Canada is one of our nearest neighbors. It’s one of our closest allies. Canada fights alongside us when we have military conflicts. We have a balance of trade. We actually have a surplus of trade in steel. So they buy more steel from us than we buy from them.
"The idea that it’s in our national security interest to tax American consumers when they buy Canadian steel is completely untrue," he said, "And I don’t like pursuing policy based on something that is."
Toomey, formerly a self-employed small businessman, also branded the Trump tariffs "bad economic policy." He specifically pointed to Allegheny Technologies (AT), which he said is "one of several Pennsylvania companies that use steel and employ thousands. What they have discovered is their input costs have gone up to the point that many of them are no longer competitive."
AT, according to Toomey, "is a company that uses steel. One of their business streams is to import slabs of stainless steel in dimensions and a type that is not available in the United States. Nevertheless, it is subject to this 25 percent tax.
"They take it, they refine it, they modify it, they make thin sheets so this stainless steel can be used in appliances. They were able to import these slabs, from Indonesia. They then shipped them to a Pennsylvania factory, where there are a hundred guys — 100 steelworker union guys — making on average over $100,000 a year in all incompensation."
According to Toomey, AT’s factory will have to close it "if they can’t get an exemption for this category or get these tariffs to go away."
When Toomey raised this point with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and asked him point-blank what Canada would have to do so "my constituents will stop being punished," Ross’ reply was (in Toomey’s words) "they have to agree to our demands on NAFTA."
"That sure doesn’t sound like a national security issue, but at least he’s being honest about [the tariff]," he said. "The first demand of the [Trump Administration] on NAFTA is a sunset provision — which is basically designed to collapse NAFTA. Let’s say what they suggested is five years from the date of the agreement. I think odds are pretty high that, in those five years, somebody somehow will not be able to do that, including quite possibly the U.S. government, and I think that’s the idea [of the Trump Administration]."
"And it’s a terrible idea to blow up an agreement which has been so good for the U.S. economy," Toomey emphasized.
Turning to Mexico’s leftist President-elect Lopez Obrador, Toomey saw similar troubled waters being stirred up by a five-year sunset clause in NAFTA.
"Imagine if you have a five-year provision on NAFTA and a guy who hates capitalism in the first place," said the Pennsylvanian, "How is he going to view renewal of the agreement?"
These are just some of the points Toomey says he hopes to engage the President and his Administration on in the upcoming weeks ahead in order to reverse the tariffs he receives as so detrimental to his state.
How far he is able to go in securing any reversals from the White House will surely become one of the compelling trade sagas of 2018.
(Kimberly Burton, an incoming junior at Temple University (PA), is a summer intern at the Washington, D.C., bureau of Newsmax).
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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