Panetta bill seeks to ‘reassert congressional authority’ on tariffs

A BIPARTISAN group of lawmakers this week introduced legislation that would require the president to submit to Congress any proposal to adjust the country's tariffs on goods and services.

Under the bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta and five other legislators, members of Congress would have 60 days to review any tariff proposal submitted by the president.

The bill would "amend the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to require congressional approval before the president adjusts imports that are determined to threaten [or] impair national security," according to the bill.

"The administration's policies and tariffs are negatively impacting American industries and consumers, including the central coast of California's $5 billion agriculture economy," Panetta said. "By reaffirming the role of Congress, this legislation protects our farmers, ranchers, and consumers from unnecessary trade wars." Citing the United States' huge trade deficit, Trump started insisting that other countries take steps to reduce the deficit and imposing tariffs on many imported goods. American trading partners, most notably China, retaliated by imposing their own tariffs on American products.

But Trump didn't seem worried. "When you have an $800 billion-a-year trade deficit, there's no way you can lose a trade war," he said.

Panetta said that with any trade or tariff change, "it takes time for the impact to be fully realized at the individual producer level." However, from the producers he's spoken to, Panetta said there appears to be "a chilling effect" on the market in the form of delayed orders and uncertainty in forecasting, which started after Trump's first tariff was announced earlier this year.

"Producers are seriously concerned that this will only be worsened following President Trump's intentions to impose tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods," Panetta told The Pine Cone.

Wine, strawberries, oranges, walnuts and lemons are among the California products that China — the No. 3 foreign market for California agricultural exports in 2016 — said it would subject to additional taxes in response to the tariffs from the United States.

The Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce was one of more than 270 business and agricultural groups that signed on to the House of Representatives bill. "We signed on to this letter primarily because it is a bipartisan effort to provide necessary oversight for executive action," chamber President Jody Hansen told The Pine Cone Wednesday. "We were concerned no detailed economic analysis of the impacts was available prior to the tariff announcements, and the basis of national security interests was unclear," Hansen said.

Without a detailed economic study, however, Hansen said it's difficult to determine if Trump's policies and tariffs are hurting the Monterey Peninsula's economy. "We took a stand with business organizations throughout the nation, because this process is a bad precedent for economic stability," she said.