Top US House Democrat on trade issues committed to reversing ‘unjustified’ tariffs

U.S. Representative Richard Neal, the Democrat who is expected to regain the chairmanship of the tax- and trade-focused House Ways and Means Committee, said on Friday that he is committed to reversing President Donald Trump’s “unjustified” tariffs and “backroom deals” on trade.

In an address to a trade conference hosted by the Biden administration’s former U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, Neal said Trump’s “deliberately chaotic and unjustified trade policies” had contributed to rising living costs and growing inequality between workers and the wealthiest Americans.

Democrats have won at least 250 seats in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections that were held on Tuesday, giving them their biggest majority since the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. With at least 54 seats in the Senate, Democrats will have significant ability to pass legislation rescinding some of Trump’s tariff policies and the statutes backing them. Punitive duties on Canadian goods are viewed as a likely target.

“I’m committed to reversing Trump’s unjustified tariffs and pursuing trade policy that is grounded in good governance and transparency,” Neal said. “That means delivering for every working family, not serving one man’s ego.”

Neal did not provide specifics about his legislative agenda on trade, but said that it is his priority to keep both Mexico and Canada as part of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade. He added that the six-year sunset review provision provides room to improve the agreement.

Any measures to reverse Trump’s tariffs, however, are expected to face a Trump veto, which Democrats would not be able to override without significant Republican support.