Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said Sunday that he would support legislation to nullify President Donald Trump’s newly announced tariffs on steel and aluminum.
In an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta on “State of the Union,” Johnson said he would back a bill to reject the tariffs, but seemed confident it wouldn’t have enough support to pass.
“I would, but I doubt it’d have any chance of passing, and if it passed, that we’d have the votes to override the veto,” Johnson said.
Johnson represents Wisconsin, a state whose governor, Republican Scott Walker, has asked Trump to reconsider his position on tariffs if he wants to protect US jobs. The European Union has announced it is planning to impose tariffs on certain American companies, including Wisconsin-based Harley-Davidson, in retaliation.
“There’s really a growing level of optimism because we were returning certainty to the American and Wisconsin economy,” Johnson said. “The talk of canceling NAFTA and now imposing these steel tariffs have just interjected uncertainty into the economy where it just wasn’t necessary.”
Last week, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona threatened to introduce legislation to nullify the President’s tariffs.
“I’m going to — as soon as it comes out if it is anything approximating what he’s talked about — introduce legislation to nullify it. I’m assuming I won’t be the only one to do that,” Flake, the frequent Trump critic, told reporters Thursday.
Flake elaborated on his position Sunday on “Meet the Press”
“You know, tariffs are awful. Tariffs married to uncertainty is probably even worse,” he said. “And then to have a president in a position to say, ‘All right. Australia, all right. What are you going to do for me?’ Or wake up one day and say, ‘You know, let’s impose more tariffs here or there,’ that’s an awful situation to be. And where one person is basically deciding, you know, tariffs go up or down depending on what kind of behavior. Is it something else he doesn’t like? It’s just — It’s not the way to do business.”