Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Require Congressional Oversight Over New Tariffs

The tariffs announced by the administration since January have been largely based on powers that allow the discretion to address a declared national emergency.  Constitutionally speaking, those and other executive tariff powers are ones that Congress has delegated to the presidency: the Constitution states that Congress has the power to lay tariffs.  Now, in the wake of a 10% blanket tariff on all goods plus country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs announced in early April, two members of the Senate Finance Committee have introduced a bill designed to reassert Congressional oversight over new tariff moves by the executive branch.

WHY IT MATTERS

The “Trade Review Act of 2025” would do exactly what the title says: require that new tariffs be submitted, and explained, to Congress for their approval.  The bill provides that, unless approved by a joint resolution of Congress, any new tariffs would expire within 60 days.  (If disapproved by Congress, a new tariff could expire earlier.)  Under the draft bill, the President would have to explain the reasoning for any new or increased tariffs, as well as present an impact analysis of them, within 48 hours of announcing new tariff measures.  The bill would cover tariffs applied to “an[y] article imported into the United States.”  The bill would adopt a similar oversight model as that used in the War Powers Resolution, which requires notice to Congress of the use of force and allows Congress to limit unapproved use of force.    

It remains to be seen whether this bill advances or is taken seriously by others in the legislature.  However, the same day it was introduced, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution expressing support for repealing the administration's existing tariffs on Canada.  Taken together, these could be signals that the Senate will explore ways to require the executive branch to work more closely with Congress rather than develop unilateral trade policies.