When members of Congress arrived on Capitol Hill this morning, President Donald Trump was still pushing for his expansive reciprocal tariff plan, a plan that had caused huge uncertainty in the stock market and garnered him a growing amount of bipartisan criticism. By the time they left, most of the reciprocal tariffs were gone, with Trump announcing a 90-day pause while raising tariffs on China (and keeping a 10% tariff across the board).
Throughout it all, New Jersey’s members of Congress, whether they supported or opposed Trump’s original “Liberation Day” plan, were trying to keep up.
One member in particular has taken a leading role on the issue: Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) has teamed up with Nebraska Republican Don Bacon on a bill to give Congress a seat at the tariff table. The bipartisan bill, probably the most prominent such effort in Congress, would sunset any presidentially imposed tariffs after 60 days unless they are approved by Congress.
“It’s very important for this administration to see that Republicans are speaking out against these tax-increasing tariffs,” Gottheimer said this morning (before Trump had announced the 90-day pause). “Don Bacon and I spoke this weekend, and we worked immediately together on a bill that would specifically say to this administration – and to any president – ‘You’ve got to come to Congress to get approval for every tariff you want to implement.’”
Bacon and Gottheimer had been working to build up a bipartisan roster of co-sponsors for the bill, and discussions on a discharge petition – which lets a majority of the House put a bill on the floor even against the wishes of leadership – had begun. But it’s not clear whether Trump’s announcement today (which still keeps some tariffs in place, and which leaves the door wide open for the remainder to return in the future) will dampen their push.
One Republican who likely won’t be joining any such legislation, though, is Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield). Kean, who hadn’t previously commented on Trump’s tariff policies, said that “the structure [of tariff authority] is right as it is,” and signaled his approval for Trump’s approach thus far.
“He’s a great negotiator,” Kean said. “He’s an individual who understands the importance of growing the American economy. It’s always going to be a difficult process when people are going through direct negotiations between countries. I think it was very important for him to do it the way he has done it to make sure we are prioritizing innovation.”
Kean’s two fellow Republican congressmen have been similarly positive on Trump’s tariff policies. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) attended Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement last week, saying that the tariffs were a “bold strategy to rectify unfair trade tariffs imposed on us”; Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) said that they would lead to a “golden age in America.”
But Senator Andy Kim, who called Trump’s approach to trade policy “mind-bogglingly stupid,” said that he hopes Congress continues its drive for legislation that would give Congress more tariff oversight power; a Senate bill to do just that has seven GOP co-sponsors.
“This is a situation where we need to show that the constitutional prerogative when it comes to tariffs and taxes remains with Congress,” Kim said. “This is clearly the president overstepping emergency powers and other things that he claims to use to be able to do this.”
Kim, one of several Democrats to appear alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer today at a press conference criticizing Trump’s tariff decisions, singled out Trump’s shifting policies towards China as worthy of particular criticism.
“I think that there is widespread understanding that tariffs can and should be a tool that we use when it comes to U.S.-China challenges,” Kim said. “But the way Trump is doing it is just the worst possible way.”
“China will know that we have antagonized our allies and our partners, and that they are not going to come to our defense in a trade war between the United States and China,” he continued. “We’re going into this potential trade war with China with the worst possible hand I could imagine, in any circumstance.”
No one knows what exactly will come next in Trump’s tariff efforts; that, in fact, has been a chief Democratic criticism, since Americans (and stock markets) haven’t been able to consistently predict what will happen next. Republicans have said, and will likely continue to say, that it’s a hallmark of smart negotiation; Democrats will say it’s a sign of further chaos.
On social media, Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) had the pithiest reaction of all to the 90-day pause: “I guess no more liberation, folks.”
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