Grassley Says Raising Bound Tariff Requires Congressional Approval
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that while he has not discussed the idea of raising the U.S. bound tariff rate at the World Trade Organization, the administration better not be thinking of bypassing Congress on this strategy. Grassley, who was responding to a reporter's question at a press roundtable Feb. 13, said flatly, “They can't do it without Congress's approval.” A report from Bloomberg said the administration is considering changes to the bound rate.
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Grassley also talked about the phase one China deal, and how the coronavirus epidemic might affect the commitments in it. He said it'll probably be a year before politicians can measure whether China has lived up to its purchase commitments in agriculture. He said “you've got to be worried about” China's economy slowing down enough that it can't buy what it promised.
He expressed no concern that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin implied that the tariffs on Chinese goods can stay for years as leverage in negotiations. Grassley said that he's no longer feeling pressure from constituents to lift tariffs on Chinese goods, since China is backing away from punishing agricultural exporters. “Compared to 2018, 2019, at my town meetings out there, there was a great deal of anxiety, particularly among farmers, and I don't sense that anxiety now,” he said.