Democratic AGs decry effort to bring back Trump’s unpopular tariffs

A public hearing began this week as the Trump administration looks to reinstate one of the most widely hated policies of the president’s second term.

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Democratic officials are calling the whole thing a sham. And for good reason.

Tuesday marked the opening of a three-day hearing at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on the administration’s proposal to hit dozens of countries with new tariffs on grounds that these countries have failed to combat forced labor. The Trump administration adopted this approach after the archconservative Supreme Court overruled its previous rationale for tariffs.

The administration outlined its newly proposed tariffs in a report last month, accusing numerous countries of hurting American workers by inadequately fighting the scourge of forced labor. Several of these countries and the European Union have denied the claims.

As I explained at the time, there’s ample reason to question the administration’s true commitment to stemming the crisis of forced labor and human trafficking — in part because of the whole Epstein files thing, as well as the fact that many federal programs that fight forced labor and human trafficking have been gutted in President Donald Trump’s second term.

In other words, these new tariffs seem like a ploy to restore Trump’s old tariffs, which polling showed Americans broadly detested and said had cost them money.

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On Monday, 22 Democratic state attorneys general submitted a public comment to Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, that all but assures the tariffs will face a legal challenge if the Trump administration tries to impose them. The officials — including AGs from New York, California, Arizona and Michigan — said the tariffs unlawfully use “sham” unfair labor investigations as justification.

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The Proposal is clearly a method by which the USTR aims to reimpose sweeping tariffs under the pretext of banning imports made with forced labor, via sham Section 301 investigations, and, once tariffs are in place, to adjust the tariff levels at their whim. This is far outside of the scope that the statutory scheme contemplates.

The Trump administration is apparently resolute in finding some way to restore tariffs that Americans broadly loathe — but which seemingly helped Trump net personal gifts from countries and companies seeking relief. And Democrats are equally committed in opposition.

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