GOP Lawmakers Break With Trump on Tariffs
- Senator Chuck Grassley is leading the charge on the "Trade Review Act of 2025," which aims to limit the president's authority to impose new tariffs by introducing new oversight requirements.
Fissures are emerging within the Republican party following this week’s tariff-driven economic meltdown , with some lawmakers even pushing to wrest control away from the White House when it comes to sanctioning international trade.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the upper chamber’s longest-serving GOP member, is pioneering the “Trade Review Act of 2025,” which would limit the president’s authority to impose new tariffs by introducing new oversight requirements.
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Introduced alongside Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the bill would mandate that the Commander in Chief notify Congress within 48 hours of imposing new duties or increasing existing ones and provide an explanation or reasoning for the trade action. The president would also be required to provide an assessment of the potential impact that new duties could have on U.S. businesses and consumers.
Within 60 days, Congress must pass a joint resolution of approval on the new tariff or it will be allowed to expire. The legislative branch would also have the ability to end tariffs at any time by passing a resolution of disapproval.
A bipartisan group of Senators including Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Ark.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have signed onto the bill.
“For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch,” Grassley said. He was compelled to introduce the legislation this week to “reassert Congress’ constitutional role and ensure Congress has a voice in trade policy.”
The bill’s introduction follows a movement by mostly Democratic lawmakers to terminate the executive powers invoked by the president under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) against Canada, which Trump threatened with 25-percent duties. Republican Senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Rand Paul (R-Ken.) signed onto that legislative effort, led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
Ultimately, Trump opted to (mostly) honor the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), keeping goods covered by the agreement duty free.
While such efforts are unlikely to move forward in a bitterly divided Congress, Tillis told reporters Thursday that other Republican colleagues could end up signing onto Grassley’s bill. “I think there’s something to be said for having congressional review,” he said, according to Politico.
The news outlet also reported that Congressman Don Bacon (R-Ne.) plans to introduce a companion bill in the House of Representatives.
And while he hasn’t signed onto the effort yet, Trump may be losing one of his staunchest supporters in Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
On Friday, the lawmaker took to his podcast to criticize Trump’s tariff rollout, saying that the administration’s trade policies could usher in a Republican “bloodbath” in the 2026 midterm elections.
“I’m seeing a lot of Republican cheerleaders that are kind of reflexively defending what the White House is doing… But here’s one thing to understand: a tariff is a tax, and it is a tax, principally on American consumers ,” he said. “I am not a fan of tax increases on American consumers. I’m not a fan of tariffs. And so if this is leverage to lower tariffs, great, but if the outcome is tariffs stay in place forever, that is going to do a lot of harm in the American economy.”
