Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said President Trump is going “so overboard” on his tariff agenda.
Schumer joined CNN on Tuesday, just a day before Trump’s latest round of sweeping reciprocal tariffs went into effect on Wednesday. He was pushing for Congress to take action against the new trade policies as they spark instability at home and abroad.
“Congress has always had the power to deal with tariffs, and we’ve always had these fights in the past on some of the tariff issues as well,” Schumer said. “But now that Trump is going so overboard, Congress can, has every legal authority, to take those powers back.”
“And that’s what we aim to do,” he added.
His remarks come just days after seven Republican senators signed on to a bipartisan bill that would require Congress to approve Trump’s steep tariffs on its trading partners.
It would limit Trump’s ability to impose the broad and reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries without congressional approval. The president has already threatened to veto the bill.
Host Brianna Keilar asked Schumer why, when he recently led the Democrats in the Senate majority, they didn’t attempt to push through a law knowing that Trump’s first term involved tariffs, and he promised to do more with a second term.
“We were able to beat back a lot of what Trump did on tariffs, and nothing is as extensive as this, over 180 countries affected,” Schumer said, pointing to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Schumer said he hoped his Republican colleagues know “how bad this is.” He hopes they join him “instead of trembling in their boots because they’re afraid of Trump” and help the American people who will be impacted by the trade policy.
So far, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have supported the Trade Review Act of 2025.
