US House Speaker Paul Ryan has urged the Trump administration not to move forward on new tariffs on steel and aluminium announced last week, citing the risks to the economy.
"We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan. The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don't want to jeopardise those gains," said AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, the top Republican in the House.
Trump's announcement on planned tariffs has caused a rift with Republican lawmakers and have sparked warnings of retaliation from allies, including the European Union.
Congressional leaders also would not rule out potential action in the future if Trump pursues the planned tariffs, a House Republican source said, although the source did not specify what action lawmakers were considering.
The chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Subcommittee on Trade, Kevin Brady and Dave Reichert, said in a letter that tariffs should be narrow, targeted, focused on addressing unfairly traded products, and argued that they should not disrupt the flow of fairly traded products for American businesses and consumers, according to a spokeswoman.
Meanwhile the president has ratcheted up the pressure on Canada and Mexico as they negotiate a new NAFTA trade deal, saying the two could avoid being caught in his planned hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports if they ceded ground to Washington.
"We have large trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. NAFTA, which is under renegotiation right now, has been a bad deal for U.S.A. Massive relocation of companies & jobs. Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed," Trump tweeted on Monday.
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