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Senate Republicans Weigh Moves to Block Trump on Mexico Tariffs

Trump defends plan as needed to address migrants from Central America, says lawmakers would be making a mistake if they try to stop him

Democrats have roundly opposed Mr. Trump’s border stance and his plan to impose tariffs on Mexico. But his announcement triggered blowback from some Senate Republicans as well, who returned this week from a Memorial Day recess ready to consider their options to stop him.

Republican senators will meet behind closed doors Tuesday for a weekly lunch, where the subject is expected to be at the top of the agenda. A White House deputy counsel is expected to attend to discuss the matter.

“If [White House officials] continue down this path and they escalated the tariff, I suspect Congress is going to want to probably be heard from, for sure,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R., S.D.) said on Monday night. He said that Republicans were still in the process of studying the legal authority on which the administration would rely to impose the tariffs.

In comments at a press conference in London alongside U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Mr. Trump brushed off Republican senators’ concerns, calling any move to block him a mistake.

“I don’t think they will do that—if they do, it’s foolish,” Mr. Trump said, when asked what he thought of potential Republican efforts to block his Mexico tariffs. On the state of the talks with Mexico, he said: “We are going to see if we can do something, but I think it’s more likely that the tariffs go on.”

One issue is whether the national emergency Mr. Trump declared earlier this year to divert funds to Mexico border-wall construction also gives him the power to impose tariffs. Some Republicans suspect he sees that declaration as providing the legal basis to impose ever-increasing tariffs as a mechanism to pressure Mexico to stem the flow of migrants. The White House hasn’t publicly cited its legal basis for the tariffs plan.

At a meeting with Senate Republican aides on Monday, one White House counsel indicated that the president intended to rely on a statute called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose the tariffs, which is triggered by an emergency declaration. Some Senate GOP aides expect Mr. Trump to declare a new emergency or amend his existing declaration in order to put the tariffs into place.

Republican aides say such a move could prompt a vote to end the tariffs. The vote could be initiated in either the Senate or the House. It is unclear which chamber would vote first, although beginning with a Senate vote might provide political cover to House Republicans who are generally reluctant to challenge Mr. Trump.

A vote to terminate the tariffs is seen as the fastest route to block the president, since such a measure is protected against stalling tactics. Congress used a similar approach earlier this year when it voted to reject Mr. Trump’s national emergency declaration.

But Mr. Trump vetoed that measure, and Congress didn’t muster enough votes to override the veto, meaning the national emergency stayed in place.

Congress could also amend the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to make clear that it can’t be used to impose tariffs. The law is typically used to freeze assets and has never before been used in the way that the president contemplates, creating potential legal problems for the administration.

“This is certainly breaking new ground, and that creates both a legal problem potentially if there are court challenges, and it’s also clear from the way Republicans are responding that some of them just don’t like this idea,” said Chris Edelson, an American University government professor who wrote a book on emergency presidential power.

House Democratic leaders have been critical of Mr. Trump’s decision to impose tariffs, but said they were waiting to see how Senate Republicans respond.

“The problem that we confront in this country is that the president often conducts himself in an erratic fashion as it relates to economic policy, particularly in terms of his deployment of tariffs,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, said Tuesday.