House unlikely to get tariff details from Trump

The Ways and Means Committee cleared a resolution seeking information on Section 232 and Section 301 duties, but the measure probably will not receive a vote.    The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday unfavorably reported a resolution of inquiry seeking documents and/or records from the Trump administration detailing its decisions to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum and on China.
   The unfavorable reporting of the measure means that H. Res. 1018 will go to the House floor but is unlikely to receive a vote.
   “The truth is we all agree that China’s cheating,” committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said during the Wednesday committee markup. China has “cost us thousands of U.S. jobs. By making that strategy and all documents public, sharing our playbook with China, I believe it’s counterproductive and will hurt American workers.”
   The resolution of inquiry, introduced by Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee ranking member Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., calls for the president to send to the House “any and all documents in draft or final form, including reports, memos, spreadsheets and slide deck presentations” in the executive branch’s possession related to the methodology behind Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs.
   The resolution seeks information on why President Donald Trump chose to impose 25 percent global tariffs on steel and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum even though the Commerce Department’s January-released Section 232 reports recommended 24 percent and 7.7 percent tariffs on those metals, respectively.
   The measure also seeks information on actions the Trump administration took on a bilateral or multilateral basis to address unfair Chinese technology transfer and intellectual property-related trade practices before imposing the initial set of Section 301 tariffs — covering $34 billion worth of goods in 2017 import value — on China on July 6.
   Pascrell’s resolution also asks what such bilateral or multilateral actions the United States has taken since imposition of the tariffs.