Donald Trump has talked up protectionism for decades, so his apparent decision to impose tariffs on steel/​aluminum for (unconvincing) “national security” reasons may be something he truly believes in. If that’s the case, it’s very important for everyone to step forward and figure out a way to talk him out of it. And they are. Here’s a sampling:

Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who’s a member of GOP leadership, told reporters Monday night that Republicans are still looking at what legislative recourse they have to stop Trump’s action on trade, but first they are trying to convince him not to go through with it.
“First and foremost there is going to be an attempt to try to convince the President that he’s headed down the wrong track, and hopefully get him to a point where he’ll reconsider that decision,” Thune said.

Congress has ultimate Constitutional power over trade, although they have delegated a good deal of it by statute over the years. This is their opportunity to exercise their power in support of free trade.

West Wing aides led by Cohn, who directs the National Economic Council, are planning a White House meeting for later this week with executives from industries likely to be hurt by big tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, two officials familiar with the matter said. The meeting is tentative and the participants have not yet been set in stone, but industries that could be hit hard by the tariffs include automakers and beverage companies.

Trump announced the tariffs in front of the steel/​aluminum companies who would benefit. It’s important he hear from those who would be hurt.

divEuropean Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has vowed to fight back against US President Donald Trump’s threat of a 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminum imports.


“So now we will also impose import tariffs. This is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this. But we have to do it. We will now impose tariffs on motorcycles, Harley Davidson, on blue jeans, Levis, on Bourbon. We can also do stupid. We also have to be this stupid,” he said in Hamburg on Friday evening.

divIf Juncker’s threats lead to actual tariff retaliation, we are worse off than with Trump’s tariffs alone. But the idea behind Juncker’s response is to appear as “stupid” as Trump, in order to get him to back down, by giving other U.S. industries a reason to lobby against the steel/​aluminum tariffs. (A Canadian journalist had a clever idea for retaliation without so much self-inflicted harm that I haven’t seen tried before: “Rather than raise tariffs on American exports, why not lower them on exports of the same goods from other countries, giving them a leg up over the Americans in our market?”)

Trade policy looks pretty bleak in the face of these tariffs, which would create a loophole in the system that others are sure to utilize as well. If the U.S. can impose these tariffs on steel and aluminum on the basis of “national security,” someone else is sure to try for tariffs on food, or clothing, or various other products on the same basis. But the tariffs haven’t been imposed yet. Until they are, everyone should push back in every way they can think of.