Four House Dems aim to exempt Israel, Ukraine from tariffs
Republicans blocked a bid to pass similar legislation in the Senate
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Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a member of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, speaks to the press after touring the shooting site at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on August 26, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
A group of four House Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday that aims to exempt Israel and Ukraine from the recent global tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed by executive order.
Trump announced a 17% tariff on Israel in April, above the global 10% minimum tariff that the president said he would apply to U.S. trading partners.
The Trump administration is “alienating some of our closest allies around the world, including those that are currently facing aggression from hostile nations,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), the bill’s lead sponsor, said in a statement. “I support efforts to increase domestic manufacturing, but those efforts shouldn’t come at the expense of our global standing, our national security, and the strength of our economy. Congress has to stand up to the destruction these tariffs are threatening against American families and our allies Israel and Ukraine, and I’m leading the charge to do it.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ).
Moskowitz accused the administration of placing on Americans “the largest tax increase since 1968” through the tariffs, describing them as “a tax on American families that makes goods inaccessible, threatens retirement accounts, and takes a sledgehammer to U.S. economic growth.”
The legislation is a companion to a bill Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced in early April. She sought unanimous consent in the Senate at the time to pass the bill, but was blocked by Republicans.
“Both these countries are currently under attack. They need the United States to be standing with them, not hitting them with nonsensical tariffs that could cause them even more harm,” Cortez Masto said at the time. “It is outrageous that my Republican colleagues blocked an opportunity to fix this and come together to protect our allies.”
Some Republicans have been critical of the administration’s decision to place tariffs on Israel, particularly since Israel announced it would lift all of its own tariffs on the United States, but most have opposed efforts by Democrats in the Senate to force votes on legislation to block the tariffs.
The administration has delayed the implementation of tariffs and multiple federal courts have ruled that the president does not have the unilateral authority to impose them.