U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) has come out in support of President Donald Trump’s April 30 announcement to delay decision-making for another 30 days on whether to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
“President Trump’s decision to extend tariff exemptions for our trading partners is good news for our local manufacturers and their workers,” said Rep. Walorski on May 1.
“I will continue working with the administration to protect Hoosier jobs by ensuring the tariffs are narrowly targeted and provide American businesses the flexibility and long-term certainty they need to grow,” said the Indiana congresswoman.
Several countries and the European Union had threatened retaliatory tariffs on American exports, including agricultural products and manufactured goods produced in Indiana, in response to Trump’s increased tariffs, which were set to take effect in March. The United States and its trading partners are negotiating reform of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
On March 14, Rep. Walorski led 15 of her U.S. House Ways and Means Committee colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross urging “retroactive relief” for companies that successfully petitioned for product exclusions from the tariffs.
President Trump subsequently issued two presidential proclamations on March 22 modifying the steel and aluminum tariffs. He ordered that relief would be provided for products that cannot be obtained domestically or are vital to national security and made it retroactive to when the request was submitted, according to information provided by the congresswoman’s staff.
“Narrowing these tariffs and providing flexibility to American businesses is critical to maintaining our nation’s economic momentum, and this is another step in the right direction,” Walorski said on March 24 when the president issued the decrees. “This commonsense decision will ensure American manufacturers aren’t forced to pay an unnecessary tax on products for which they are granted an exclusion.”
Also in March, Rep. Walorski told U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing that “an incredible amount of anxiety” existed in her district over the U.S. trading partners’ threat of retaliation.
“That anxiety is shared regardless of industry because manufacturers, suppliers, farmers, and workers will be affected,” she told the USTR. “Are you considering the devastating effect that retaliatory measures could have, especially on small business and family farms that absolutely do not have the resources to absorb big losses?”