US Senate passes resolution blocking Trump’s 50% tariff on Brazil

Five Republicans—Senators Rand Paul, Thom Tillis, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and former Senate leader Mitch McConnell—joined Democrats in a bipartisan reproach of the President over trade policy in a 52-to-48 vote.

The US Senate recently passed a resolution to end President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil.
Five Republicans joined Democrats in a bipartisan reproach of the president over trade policy in a 52-to-48 vote.
The legislation was introduced to challenge Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEPPA) tariffs on billions of dollars of goods from Brazil.

“Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule,” McConnell said in a statement ahead of the vote.

The legislation was introduced by Paul, Democratic Senators Tim Kaine, Jeanne Shaheen, Chuck Schumer, Jeanne Shaheen and Ron Wyden to challenge Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEPPA) tariffs on billions of dollars of goods from Brazil.

The vote came shortly after newly released inflation data showed that consumer prices rose in September at their fastest pace in eight months, a release from the office of Virginia Senator Kaine said. Kaine is also the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee on the Western Hemisphere.

“Today’s vote sends an important message to the Trump Administration that the American people are not interested in starting unnecessary trade wars that will raise the cost of everyday goods like coffee and weaken our economy. I urge the House of Representatives to take this bill up and undo this tax on Americans,” he said.

“Trump promised liberation, but what he delivered was a disastrous trade war that’s brought chaos to the economy, confusion for small businesses, and higher costs for Americans,” said Schumer.

“President Trump’s reckless tariffs have amounted to a hidden tax on American families and small businesses,” said Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“The President cannot use the American people as a bargaining chip to disrupt court cases in another nation and unilaterally impose a tax on the American people,” she said.

The National Emergencies Act states that the House of Representatives must vote on this legislation within 18 days.

Americans import more than $40 billion annually from Brazil. Trade between the United States and Brazil supports nearly 130,000 US jobs, and the Former has a trade surplus with the latter.

“A trade war with Brazil will raise costs for Americans, harm both the American and Brazilian economies, and drive Brazil closer to China,” the release added.

The legislation is supported by the National Association of Women Owned Businesses (NAWBO), Mainstreet Alliance, National Taxpayers Union, Small Business Majority, Public Citizen, National Retail Federation, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), and The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA).

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)