Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The Trump administration is developing plans to rely more heavily on executive actions, including on trade, without seeking congressional approval, as Democrats prepare for a possible shift in power following Tuesday’s US midterm elections.
President Donald Trump‘s trade agenda could face fresh resistance if Democrats win control of Congress, with the party expected to launch a series of oversight hearings and push symbolic votes to roll back tariffs next year. However, trade experts and congressional aides say Trump is unlikely to be deterred from pursuing further tariff measures.
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Democrats want to introduce legislation to overturn several of Trump’s tariffs and repeal some of the older trade laws that underpin them. However, any legislative push faces a major obstacle: Trump’s veto power.
“One of the most obvious priorities would be repealing Trump’s tariffs on Canada, which are raising prices and harming communities on both sides of the border,” Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said.
Democrats need a net gain of four seats in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate to overturn the Republicans’ narrow majorities of 218-214 and 53-47, respectively.
Opinion polls indicate that Democrats are favoured to win the House, while the Senate race remains too close to call. Even if they secure one or both chambers, Democrats are expected to fall well short of the two-thirds majority required to override a presidential veto.
DEMOCRATS EYE SYMBOLIC VOTES ON TARIFF ROLLBACK
If Democrats win control of at least one chamber, they could use their position to push long-pending trade legislation, including Senator Chuck Schumer’s “End Trump’s Tariff Tax Act”.
The proposed legislation would repeal Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which provides the legal basis for punitive tariffs on Canadian goods, as well as Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which the Trump administration used to impose temporary 10% global tariffs.
The bill, which has 28 co-sponsors, including Wyden, also seeks to refund all duties collected under these older trade laws.
However, William Reinsch, a non-resident adviser to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Democrats would struggle to translate their efforts into legislation because neither party is likely to secure a veto-proof majority.
“Democrats are going to try a lot of things. I just don’t think anything’s going to get across the finish line because neither party will have a veto-proof majority in any scenario,” Reinsch said.
OVERSIGHT HEARINGS TO SCRUTINISE TRUMP’S TRADE POLICY
Even without enough votes to overturn Trump’s tariffs, Democrats could use control of congressional trade committees to launch investigations and hold regular oversight hearings.
Reinsch and other trade experts said Democrats could focus on the administration’s process for granting tariff exemptions to specific companies, the impact of tariffs on small businesses and the allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars in investment funds pledged by Japan, South Korea and other trading partners under recent trade agreements.
Such scrutiny would mark a departure from the largely hands-off approach that Republicans have taken towards Trump’s tariff policies over the past two years. However, some struggling Republican incumbents, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, have recently begun pushing back against the administration’s trade measures.
Greta Peisch, a former general counsel at the US Trade Representative’s office and former trade counsel to Senate Finance Committee Democrats, said Democratic efforts to challenge tariffs could also shape the debate ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
Even if Democrats fail to pass legislation reforming trade authorities immediately, their proposals could become the foundation for a broader policy agenda.
“I think it’s really the beginning of how Democrats, and Congress as a whole, think about whether and how to enact trade legislation and reforms in the next two to four years, really,” Peisch said.
Peisch, who is now a trade partner at Wiley Rein in Washington, said the effort could help Democrats develop proposals for the next presidential election.
TRUMP UNLIKELY TO BACK DOWN ON TARIFFS
Despite the prospect of increased congressional scrutiny, trade experts say Trump is unlikely to change course during his final two years in office.
The administration is expected to pursue additional tariffs, including following a forthcoming investigation into excess industrial capacity in 16 major trading partners. This comes even as Trump grants exemptions or delays the implementation of certain duties.
White House spokesperson Matthew Middleton said Trump would continue using tariffs to protect American workers, farmers and businesses from what the administration considers unfair trade practices.
“President Trump will never waver from putting America First, whether in trade negotiations or through an economic agenda of tax cuts and deregulation,” Middleton said in an emailed statement.
He added that the administration had already secured almost 20 trade deals and trillions of dollars in manufacturing investments, with further progress, jobs and opportunities expected.
– Ends
With Reuters inputs.
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
