Republicans in Congress are trying to convince President Donald Trump to soften his stance on imported steel and aluminum tariffs, House Speaker Paul Ryan confirmed Tuesday.
Ryan spoke with the media after meeting with fellow members of the GOP caucus about the matter.
"What we are encouraging the administration to do is to focus on what is clearly a legitimate problem and be more surgical in its approach so we can go after the real abusers without creating unintended consequences and collateral damage," Ryan said, according to the Washington Examiner.
Ryan was alluding to the practice of dumping steel into the U.S. market, which involves selling the product at a lower rate than normal. Trump has said the tariffs, which could become official this week or next, would tax steel imports at 25 percent and aluminum imports at 10 percent.
Ryan and other Republicans want the plan altered, perhaps to tax only certain countries that are guilty of dumping steel, or scrapped altogether.
"There is clearly abuse occurring. Clearly, there is over-capacity, dumping in the trans-shipping of steel and aluminum by some countries, particularly China," Ryan said, The Hill reported. "But I think the smarter way to go is to make it more surgical and more targeted."
According to another report, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn is trying to steer Trump away from instituting the tariffs. He organized a meeting between Trump and executives from companies that use steel and aluminum that will take place on Thursday.
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