The July 22 Senate Finance Committee hearing with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer included discussion of President Trump's revamped tariff strategy including newly announced tariffs on Canadian goods, the Joint Review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and various state-specific concerns of Senators on issues like agriculture and tourism.

This week, President Trump signed three proclamations imposing additional duties on a range of Canadian goods imported into the US under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The proclamations impose 50% tariffs on a broad range of Canadian goods across many sectors to "offset Canadian discrimination" against US alcohol, motor vehicles, and dairy products. A WCEY Alert is available here.

In an opening statement, Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) called for strong enforcement for the USMCA and other agreements, to send a signal that the US stands behind farmers, workers, and businesses. He additionally said, "A growing array of discriminatory measures in the form of digital services taxes, online content requirements and data localization target U.S. digital firms and restrict U.S. competition."

Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) expressed doubts about the Administration's recent trade actions as well as about expected future actions that cite as their cause the use of forced labor. "This week, Trump announced massive new tariffs on clothes, school supplies and other products from Canada, using a provision passed in the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. No one, not even Herbert Hoover, ever used this provision before … " he said. "Trump's next trade scheme is ordering USTR to reconstruct his illegal global tariffs under the guise of addressing forced labor."

Senator Wyden said he would introduce the Congressional Trade Powers Reform Act, requiring additional congressional approval of trade actions. "It's well past time to put Congress back in the driver's seat on trade," he said.

In testimony, Ambassador Greer said, "The problems the President's trade policy seeks to solve are generational — things were not broken in a day, and they will not be fixed overnight. But they must be fixed. This is why I am pleased to report that the combination of tariffs and deals core to the President's trade policy has yielded quick, impressive results."

Additional information is available in the attached WCEY Trade Alert.