Washington D.C. – Rufus Yerxa, President of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), today issued the following statement on behalf of the Alliance for Competitive Steel and Aluminum Trade (ACSAT) regarding efforts in Congress to limit the President’s use of Section 232 tariffs.
“ACSAT welcomes the news that members of the Senate and the House are moving forward with legislation that limits the President’s ability to implement tariffs based on Section 232 investigations. This delegation of authority was given by the Congress to the President to allow him to limit imports when faced with direct national security threats. However, in recent months, it has become clear that the Administration has misused its authority under Section 232 by implementing broad tariffs on imports from our closest allies rather than designing a coherent trade policy that addresses unfair trade practices around the world.
“Unilateral protectionist tariffs will harm our own economy and cost more jobs than they save. As we have already seen, these actions by the Administration will result in limiting our export opportunities as our trading partners retaliate against these unjust actions.
“We strongly support Congress’ efforts to reign in the Administration’s inappropriate use of Section 232 and to avoid a resulting breakdown in global trade rules, further alienating our closest partners.”
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