Bipar­ti­san sen­a­tors’ bill would require Con­gress to approve new tar­iffs

Two senior law­mak­ers have intro­duced a bipar­ti­san bill that would reassert Con­gress’ pow­ers over U.S. tar­iffs, a day after Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump announced a new wide-rang­ing tar­iff strat­e­gy dur­ing his “Lib­er­a­tion Day” speech on Wednes­day.

Sen. Chuck Grass­ley, R‑Iowa, and Maria Cantwell, D‑Wash., on Thurs­day intro­duced the Trade Review Act of 2025, which would require the pres­i­dent to noti­fy Con­gress about any new tar­iffs with­in 48 hours of impo­si­tion. 

The bill also requires that Trump pro­vide an expla­na­tion of the ratio­nale along with an analy­sis of the tar­iffs’ poten­tial impact on the U.S. econ­o­my. Con­gress would have to approve the new tar­iffs with­in 60 days or allow them to expire.

If enact­ed, the bill would shift cer­tain trade pol­i­cy­mak­ing pow­ers from the exec­u­tive branch to the Con­gress. 

WHAT IS TRUMP’S NEW LIBERATION DAY AND WHAT TO EXPECT APRIL 2?

“For too long, Con­gress has del­e­gat­ed its clear author­i­ty to reg­u­late inter­state and for­eign com­merce to the exec­u­tive branch,” Grass­ley, a Trump ally who’s skep­ti­cal of tar­iffs, said in a state­ment. 

“Build­ing on my pre­vi­ous efforts as Finance Com­mit­tee Chair­man, I’m join­ing Sen­a­tor Cantwell to intro­duce the bipar­ti­san Trade Review Act of 2025 to reassert Con­gress’ con­sti­tu­tion­al role and ensure Con­gress has a voice in trade pol­i­cy,” he con­tin­ued.

TREASURY SECRETARY BESSENT TELLS COUNTRIES NOT TO RETALIATE AFTER SWEEPING ‘LIBERATION DAY’ TARIFFS

Cantwell said in a state­ment that Trump’s tar­iffs would hurt sec­tors such as agri­cul­ture, man­u­fac­tur­ing and tech­nol­o­gy and have rever­ber­at­ing effects on con­sumers.

“Ulti­mate­ly, con­sumers will pay the price,” Cantwell said in a state­ment. “It’s time for Con­gress to take action to counter the pres­i­den­t’s trade war.”

READ THE BILL – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:

Grass­ley’s home state of Iowa heav­i­ly relies on farm crop exports, while Cantwell’s Wash­ing­ton state is home to many export-heavy com­pa­nies such as Boe­ing.

Trump on Thurs­day com­pared the tar­iffs to a med­ical oper­a­tion, and said the “patient lived, and is heal­ing.” “The prog­no­sis is that the patient will be far stronger, big­ger, bet­ter, and more resilient than ever before,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Thurs­day’s bill was intro­duced after four Repub­li­can sen­a­tors joined Democ­rats in approv­ing a sep­a­rate res­o­lu­tion Wednes­day that would repeal Trump’s emer­gency dec­la­ra­tion levy­ing tar­iffs on Cana­di­an imports. Grass­ley was not one of the Repub­li­can defec­tors. The res­o­lu­tion is like­ly dead on arrival in the House.