U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has floated the idea of declaring a new national emergency in order to impose tariffs on Mexico, Senate Republicans said Tuesday, Anadolu writes.
According to a report by The Hill news site, senators emerged from a closed-door lunch with officials from the White House and Justice Department. The administration officials said they were discussing the option of declaring an emergency in order to implement the new tariffs.
Last week, Trump announced that he was using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose 5% tariffs on Mexican goods. The act allows presidents to impose import duties during a national emergency, which Trump declared in February to free up funds for his long-promised border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, the administration is now deciding whether to impose a new emergency declaration for the tariffs.
Sen. Mike Rounds said the administration is still "working through" whether the president would need to declare a national emergency in order to continue with the tariffs, The Hill said.
"I think that was somewhat up in the air…I think that's a distinct possibility, but I don't think there's any definitive answer," Sen. Ron Johnson said after emerging from the lunch, according to multiple reports.