Bipartisan Letter Tells Commerce Secretary Section 232 Answers Unsatisfactory, Says Subpoena Possible
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that his replies on how the department weighed the issues before recommending Section 232 tariffs were incomplete -- and said that if his next letter isn't an improvement, the committee may have to consider compelling his testimony. The letter, sent May 3, gave Ross two weeks to reply. "Clearly, these tariffs will have a much more far-reaching effect on downstream industries and consumer prices than explained in your response," Senators Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., wrote. They said Ross failed to provide detailed cost-benefit analyses on the tariffs' effects, or analyses of prior tariffs' effects on downstream industries or prices. They also said he declined to say how the agency is going to measure success of the tariffs.
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Ross's reply, sent on April 9, pointed the senators to the report on steel and the report on aluminum to explain the justification for tariffs, and repeated the remarks he made on TV about how a can of soup would be less than one cent more expensive if canners passed on the cost of more expensive steel. "Secretary Ross looks forward to working with Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member McCaskill to address the concerns relayed in their letter," said a Commerce spokesman in an email.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of each letter.