New Stanton bill would force the US House to vote on Trump tariffs

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An Arizona Democrat wants to force Congress to take a vote on President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plans.

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton is backing a bill that would end the state of emergency that Trump used to enact tariffs on almost all of the country's trading partners — a move with little precedent in economic history that has jolted the trade relationships underpinning the world's economy and shaken financial markets.

The bill is a "privileged resolution" — a procedure that was designed to force House leadership to bring the measure to a vote within 15 days, according to Stanton's office.

Republicans moved to thwart the measure on Wednesday, April 9, inserting language into a separate package that would effectively push the tariff vote back until late 2025.

The idea behind the Democrat-backed bill is that the legislative branch should take back control over trade policy, Stanton said in an interview. The U.S. Constitution empowers Congress to set tariffs, a power it partially delegates to the president, according to the Congressional Research Service.

"The stock market crashing the way it is, and the rising cost on American consumers: Those decisions should be made by Congress, not the president," Stanton said. "Some people may not want to vote on it ... but they should, because that's what the Constitution requires."

Few in the GOP have come out against Trump's tariff plans — most publicly cheer them on — although the party's unity on the issue has begun to show cracks.

Top Senate Republicans, including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley and Lisa Murkowski, signed onto a measure that would limit Trump's power to impose tariffs. Last week, Rep. Don Bacon signaled plans to introduce a similar bill in the U.S. House, becoming the first member of the House GOP caucus to openly challenge Trump's tariff plans.

Stanton said he expects the resolution will garner support from some of his Republican colleagues accordingly.

He called the tariff plan "one of the most self-defeating policies I've ever seen in my 25 years in public life." And he questioned its foreign policy foundations, pointing to the news that Japan and South Korea held trade talks with China for the first time in years following Trump's tariff announcements.

"At a time when we should be uniting the world, in an attempt to win this economic fight with China, the world is uniting against the United States," he said.

"They're bringing our allies closer to China, instead of the opposite."

Trump partly retreated from his tariff plans on April 9, as his reforms roiled financial markets and raised fears of an economic downturn. He announced a 90-day pause on most of the recently implemented tariffs, but he raised tariffs on China after Beijing had retaliated with tariffs of its own.