CHINA/GOP/SENATE/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “With the Trump administration announcing a new round of tariffs on China, the Senate on Wednesday [7-11-18] took a step toward asserting its power over levies that President Donald Trump has already imposed. The vote was viewed as a gauge of whether the GOP-controlled chamber had the appetite to try to rein in the party’s leader. Senators voted Wednesday, 88-11, to instruct the lawmakers appointed to iron out differences with the House over a spending bill to also insert a provision giving a role to Congress when the executive branch decides to impose tariffs on the basis of national-security concerns. The nonbinding vote marked the first time GOP-controlled Senate went on the record over tariffs that have hit aluminum and steel makers in Canada, Mexico and the European Union and potentially threaten overseas automakers as well…Backers of the measure, who also include Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), had earlier attempted to wedge into must-pass legislation a provision that would have limited Mr. Trump’s power to use the 1962 Trade Expansion Act to impose tariffs based on national-security concerns. But they were blocked once by Republican leaders and a second time by an Ohio Democrat, and their efforts face an uncertain future given that many Republican leaders are reluctant to risk stirring Mr. Trump’s wrath. The instructions to conferees don’t have the weight of legislation.”
–Siobhan Hughes, “Senate Takes Step to Assert Power on Trade,” The Wall Street Journal, July 11, 2018 1:10 pm