Democratic Senators Complain Section 232 Actions Go Beyond Law's Authority
Ten Democrats, including the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, told Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that they are questioning the legitimacy of tariffs on national security grounds against cars, household appliances and kitchen cabinets.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
"The Trump Administration’s unprecedented use of this statute -- in both scope and frequency -- is not protecting our national security, but threatening it," they wrote. "Trump’s tariffs are putting U.S. jobs, economic competitiveness, and credibility at risk by driving up costs for American businesses and consumers, creating significant uncertainty and confusion for importers, and alienating our allies. The reliance on Section 232 to pursue tariffs on everything from cars to household appliances and kitchen cabinets stretches the limited authority delegated by Congress. Further, the Commerce Department has run an opaque, unaccountable process, making decisions behind closed doors, with no justification and with limited opportunity for the American public to weigh in on the tariffs they will have to pay."
They noted that the Trump administration has opened 12 new investigations in 12 months, as well as expanding Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products and resurrecting the 232 report on autos from the first term.
"With each new invocation of authority under Section 232, the Trump Administration’s claims that all of these actions are necessary to protect vital U.S. national security interests become less credible," they wrote. They also argued that the president's comments about coming tariff levels on goods that were still under investigation undermined the credibility of the investigations.
They complained that businesses have not had enough time to respond, and pointed to the derivatives inclusion process for steel.
"For example, on August 19, 2025, following a period of only 14 days to comment on potential inclusions, Commerce published in the Federal Register a list of 407 types of products -- ranging from condensed milk to gym equipment -- that would be subject to the 50 percent steel and aluminum 232 tariffs. At the time of publication, Commerce made the tariffs on these new products retroactive to the previous day, giving businesses no time to adjust supply chains or prepare for the added expense."
They also complained that the reports these tariffs are based on have not been published to the Federal Register, as required by law.