A gut check coming on Capitol Hill
Despite growing backlash at home and abroad, U.S. President Donald Trump defended his plans for tariffs on Tuesday, including slapping 104 per cent tariffs on China after it refused to lift retaliatory levies on American goods.
I’m Alexander Panetta, a Washington-based correspondent for CBC News.
Here’s what I’m watching for today: signs of panic on Capitol Hill.
In a coincidence of timing, we’ve got U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifying in Congress for the second-straight day.
It’s a useful gauge for whether there’s momentum in Congress to step in and restrict Trump’s use of tariffs.
They have the constitutional power to do it, but it’s extremely unlikely. To pass one of the anti- tariff bills floating around, you’d need a two-thirds majority to override Trump’s veto. Good luck.
Getting 20 Republican senators and 70-something Republican House members to go to war against Trump is no easy feat.
That said, they’re sweating. Nervousness about the economy was palpable when Greer testified yesterday in the Senate.
One after another, Republicans asked: What’s the plan here? What’s the exit strategy? Who came up with this tariff formula?
Or, in the memorable words of one senator up for re-election next year, Thom Tillis of North Carolina: “Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong? … I wish you well — but I am skeptical.”
