Two Bills to Defend Free Trade

Congressional action to rein in presidential tariff power is overdue.

The Editorial Board

Feb. 7, 2019 7:31 p.m. ET

While the Trump Administration ponders whether to claim that imported Volkswagens threaten national security, some on Capitol Hill are trying again to rein in the President’s tariff powers.

The stronger bill was introduced last week by Senator Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 lets the President unilaterally impose tariffs on vague national-security grounds. Mr. Toomey’s bill would require Congress’s blessing. Once a tariff is proposed, lawmakers have 60 days to pass a...