The mass implementation of tariffs on many of the nation’s trade partners from the Trump Administration is underway, and Sen. Chuck Grassley says it is now a waiting game to see if the maneuver brings other countries to the negotiating table. Grassley, who has historically not favored the use of tariffs, says Americans should not be surprised by President Donald Trump’s decision.
Since World War II, the United States has generally shied away from import and export tariffs, but foreign nations have been free to tariff US exports at will, such as the European Union (EU)’s 50-percent tariff on dairy products or Japan’s 700-percent tariff on rice imports. Grassley says this isn’t the route he would choose to take, but he understands the president’s intent.
At the nation’s founding, Congress was tasked with oversight of interstate and international trade, but they ceded much of that power to the Oval Office in the 60s and 70s. Grassley says he has introduced legislation that returns that authority to where it belongs: Congress.
He adds that the goal should be to have as free trade as possible with other nations in a manner that reasonably protects domestic industries. Grassley made his comments during his weekly Capitol Hill Report with Iowa reporters.
