Congressman Neal slams Trump tariffs after filing resolution to override the president
By Jon Chesto, Boston Globe
US Representative Richie Neal cosponsored a measure that would block President Trump’s “emergency” tariff power last week. Then, on Friday, the Springfield Democrat took aim at the president’s trade decisions during a speech in Boston.
It’s a topic that Neal is passionate about: He was instrumental in helping to craft a three-way trade pact with Canada and Mexico known as USMCA during the first Trump administration, and one of his top aides, Katherine Tai, went on to become the top trade ambassador in the Biden administration.
So it’s no surprise that Neal, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, devoted much of his Friday speech to the issue. Speaking to the New England Council at the Boston Harbor Hotel, Neal recounted how Tai’s successor, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, was speaking to his committee last Wednesday when Trump announced via social media that he would be suspending many of his newly announced tariffs for 90 days, while ratcheting up tariffs on goods imported from China.
“Our plan was to question him aggressively,” Neal recalled of Greer’s appearance at the committee. “While he’s making the argument [for Trump’s tariffs], without being told, at 1:18 p.m., the tariffs are suspended for 90 days. … All that means is: more suspense.”
Last Tuesday, the day before the committee hearing, Neal had joined with two other top Democrats in the House, representatives Greg Meeks of New York and Rick Larsen of Washington, to cosponsor a resolution that would terminate Trump’s use of “emergency” authority to impose sweeping tariffs on imports. Such a resolution would need to be acted on within 15 calendar days, or brought to the House floor for a vote. (It’s hard to imagine such a bill passing in the Republican-controlled House.)
In his New England Council remarks, Neal expressed surprise that so many Republicans are on board with tariffs now that a Republican president is leading the charge.
“There must be a new group in America, we’re not quite sure where they meet, they’re called ‘Republicans for Tariffs,’” Neal told the council.
Neal said he didn’t agree with the reasoning behind the various “reciprocal” tariffs that Trump imposed, and later put on hold.
“I still haven’t figured out what Liechtenstein has done to offend us,” Neal said, singling out the small European country, which faces a potential 37 percent reciprocal tariff.
The targeting of China, Neal added, poses big concerns for the US economy given the two countries’ interdependence. Trump is imposing a 145 percent tariff on imported Chinese goods, a number that increased several times in a matter of days, though some products including many microchips and consumer electronics products apparently will get hit with a lower rate.
“I understand this idea we want to level the playing field,” Neal said. “But our economies are also intertwined. And that’s happened for the better part now of 30-plus years. So I think we ought to be able to reach an agreeable accommodation but not [by] ratcheting it up every hour of the day.”