Washington D.C. – Today, Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Ranking Member Terri A. Sewell (AL-07) joined Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38) and Ways and Means Committee Democrats to introduce the Stopping a Rogue President on Trade Act, a bill to put a stop to President Trump’s reckless trade wars and return tariff authority to Congress.

“Donald Trump has once again shown that he cannot be trusted to lead the trade policy of the United States,” said Oversight Subcommittee Ranking Member Terri A. Sewell. “Our economy is in chaos, working families are hurting, and small businesses across my district are worried they will lose their businesses because of Donald Trump’s reckless trade war. We have one man in the White House who is willing to throw the global economy into disarray just so that he can have foreign leaders and CEOs come begging to him on bended knee. Enough is enough!  That is why I have joined Ranking Member Sanchez to introduce this urgently needed legislation to revoke trade authority from President Trump and re-assert Congress’s Constitutionally given authority on trade.”

“President Trump’s reckless abuse of tariffs has sparked nothing but chaos,” said Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Sánchez. “American families have been anxiously bracing for rising costs and small businesses are worried they won’t survive the economic strain – all while the president flip-flops on tariffs at a whim, doing backroom deals and keeping negotiations out of the public eye. It’s time to end this madness. Congress must step in and take the trade keys away from our rogue president and protect the American people.”

“Over the years, Congress has entrusted more and more authority over trade to the Executive Branch, and recent events have made it clear we must reclaim that authority,” said Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-Mass.). “This president is willing to call anything an emergency to justify his every chaotic whim. The American people deserve better—they deserve stability and forethought. That’s why I’m proud to support Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Sánchez’s legislation that will deliver just that.”

The Stopping a Rogue President on Trade Act would:

• Turn off the global tariffs imposed on April 2: The bill would permanently turn off the new baseline tariffs of 10 percent for all countries as well as the massive increases in tariffs for 60 trading partners, such as Europe, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Kenya. This would return most rates to the levels they were before the president’s tariff spree.
• Turn off the tariffs imposed by executive order for Mexico and Canada: The president should not be able to use congressional trade authorities to extort our closest allies. If there are trade issues with those two countries, then there is a process in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that President Trump negotiated, and Congress authorized.

• Require congressional approval for all new tariffs: The Constitution gives Congress the authority over trade. Getting a vote on tariff actions should not be held hostage to political whim; votes would be treated as privileged measures that ensures that the American people get to have their say. Apolitical tariff actions – like trade remedies, safeguards and trade agreement dispute settlement – are already insulated from partisan abuse and would not require a congressional vote under the bill.

The bill is cosponsored by Representatives Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), John Larson (D-Conn.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Linda Sanchez (D-CA.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Don Beyer (D-Va.), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and Adam Gray (D-Calif.).