Warren, Smith Ask Lutnick, Greer If Exclusions Will Be Offered to New Tariffs
Two Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee asked Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer to "commit to putting in place a transparent and objective process that protects America’s small businesses and workers" if they decide to grant exclusions to new tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.
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Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tina Smith, D-Minn., made their letter public on Jan. 16. They also asked the two to answer these questions: "Will President-elect Trump’s tariffs include an exclusion process to exempt certain importers or imported products from tariffs? If so, what are the criteria and processes for obtaining exclusions, and how will you prevent the rampant corruption that occurred in the exclusion process during the first Trump Administration?"
The letter used news coverage, a Government Accountability Office Report, and a Commerce Department Inspector General report (see 1910300058) on the first term's lobbying and exclusions to bolster their claim that "while President Trump talked tough on tariffs in his first term, his trade officials handed out exemptions in arbitrary, unfair, and opaque backroom deals." They also cited an academic paper that showed that publicly traded firms that gave more donations to congressional Republicans were more likely to receive Section 301 exclusions (see 2411270051).