Free Republic

Americans For Prosperity, a free-market advocacy group funded in part by the Koch network, has offered to help House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., pass legislation that would limit President Trump's ability to unilaterally impose new tariffs. "[W]e hope to work with your office to advance legislation to require congressional approval of any proposed tariffs," said AFP chief government affairs officer Brent Gardner and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Nathan Nascimento told Pelosi in a letter sent Friday and made public Wednesday. The group called on Pelosi to support the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act, legislation jointly introduced...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Saturday she had made clear in a meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Munich Security Conference the importance of the U.S. lifting tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada. Freeland said that while Canada is now focused on its domestic ratification process for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal, it remains strongly opposed to the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. “The Canada position is now that we have concluded (USMCA) that is all the more reason why the tariffs must be lifted,” she...

The Senate on Wednesday took a symbolic shot at President Trump’s trade policy amid anxiety on Capitol Hill over his tariff strategy. Senators voted 88-11 to instruct lawmakers hashing out a deal on a government funding bill to include language “providing a role for Congress” on tariffs implemented for national security reasons, known as Section 232 of the trade laws. The vote is nonbinding, meaning lawmakers don’t have to add trade language into the funding bill. But the vote margin, with more senators supporting it than the amount needed to override a veto, underscores the depth of concern on Capitol...

Energy Fuels Resources (USA) Inc. and Ur-Energy USA Inc., on January 16, 2018, filed a petition requesting an investigation of uranium imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Section 232 authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to investigate whether an “article” is being imported into the United States “in such quantities, or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security.” Section 232 investigations are rare. While the Department of Commerce (DOC) is in the process of completing Section 232 investigations into aluminum and steel imports that it self-initiated in 2017, the most recent investigation prior to...