“If it’s anything approximating what he’s talking about, introduce legislation to nullify it. I’m assuming I’m not going to be the only one doing that,” Jeff Flake said. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images GOP weighs blocking Trump’s tariffs Some Senate Republicans are planning legislation to thwart the president — but it’s not clear if it will gain traction.

A bloc of Senate Republicans is readying legislation to halt Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, in the most provocative step yet taken to thwart the president on trade.

GOP leaders have spent this week urging Trump to reconsider his tariff plan, warning of a snowballing trade war that could choke off the economic benefits of the tax cuts they are touting on the campaign trail. While their efforts may have succeeded in narrowing the tariffs' impact, Trump is pressing ahead — leaving Republicans pondering how to check the leader of their own party.


Senate Republicans discussed the matter in depth on Thursday, just hours before Trump announced he would go through with his crackdown on imported metals. And they are gearing up for an open clash with Trump over economic policy, with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) telling reporters that he will introduce legislation to block the tariffs.

“If it’s anything approximating what he’s talking about, introduce legislation to nullify it. I’m assuming I’m not going to be the only one doing that,” Flake told reporters before the plan was formally issued. “Nobody knows what it is, so we can’t do anything until we know what it is.”

On Thursday, Trump announced the United States would impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports, with provisional exceptions for Canada and Mexico.

Asked if he could support what Flake is talking about, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) replied: “I could, yeah.”

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“There are numbers of people — not just him, but numbers of people — trying to figure out the way to take back the ability of a president to do this period. I’d look at it for sure,” Corker said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who crafts trade policy as Finance Committee chairman, told reporters, "I think there's a good chance that we will nullify the tariffs."

In a rare show of discontent with Trump, Hatch described himself as "very upset" about the tariffs. "I'm disappointed ... because we just passed a tax bill and this kind of flies in the face of that," Hatch said.

Whether Republican leaders attempt to muster a veto-proof level of support for legislation limiting Trump's tariff remains an open question. That would require at least 16 Senate Democrats supporting a GOP override of Trump — a potentially difficult number to come up with given that Democrats are less enthused with free-trade policies than Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan both issued statements expressing concern with Trump's decision, but neither mentioned the prospect of a legislative response.

Republicans have another chance at reining in the president on trade later this spring, when Trump faces a key deadline to seek renewal of fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals. But GOP leaders are not bullish about winning a legislative fight with Trump and have instead sought to get him to narrow his trade policies.

Winning a veto-override fight would be “a double bank shot,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Republican. Others think the battle is best won in the court of public opinion.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) made a rare appearance in front of the Hill press corps to scorch Trump’s trade policy.

“This is a really stupid policy. It’s going to hurt American consumers and it’s going to hurt American workers. If the administration goes through with this policy, this policy will kill American jobs, lots of them,” Sasse said. “I’ve wrestled with the president with this on this very topic.”

Indeed, the appetite appeared to be growing among GOP senators to try to claw back some power over trade policy from Trump, who has crowed that "trade wars are good, and easy to win."

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who last year introduced a bill that would require congressional review of tariffs, signaled Thursday that he would pursue further legislative remedies directly targeting Trump's steel and aluminum penalties.

"I will work with my colleagues to use Congress’s Article I power to make sure these tax hikes are never enforced," Lee said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters that "maybe we’ve delegated too much authority to the presidency. I’m not just saying to Trump."

The power to slap national security-related tariffs "could be abused by other presidents, past and future, and maybe we’d better take a look at the trade laws," added Grassley, who joined the rest of his state's bipartisan congressional delegation in a Wednesday warning that the tariffs could prompt retaliation against U.S. agricultural interests.

Grassley described Lee's existing bill as a "stopgap measure," saying that "I think we had better be very careful how much power we delegate on trade issues to the president in the future."

Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who also has urged Trump to consider the tariffs' effect on farmers, reiterated Thursday that "I don’t think our trade policy ought to be used as a playing card." Roberts added that "on this issue, [Trump is] paying attention to Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro" — the Commerce Department chief and trade adviser who have nudged Trump toward a more hardball trade agenda.

Hatch expects to consult with members ahead of an upcoming Finance panel hearing on the Trump administration's trade agenda, according to an aide. That hearing could give Republicans a forum to gauge potential support for any possible legislative response.

No matter how Republicans respond next, their decision-making appeared slowed by the lack of specificity coming from the White House on which nations might be exempted from the tariffs. Lawmakers were also considering other strategies to try to narrow the penalties.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she was unsure about a legislative response, telling reporters that "I’m hoping that the president will rethink the breadth of" the tariffs plan.

"I’m going to look at it first, as to what his final decision and his recommendation is, and then we’ll listen to what the alternatives are,” she said.