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“The president’s announcement that he’ll impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum fails Economics 101. He’s making life more expensive for hardworking American families, and he’s harming American manufacturers by making products stamped ‘Made in the USA’ less competitive overseas.

“He has once again framed international trade as a zero-sum game. Meanwhile, 11 nations today inked a free trade agreement covering 500 million people in the Asia Pacific region. While the U.S. is shrinking on the world’s stage, our allies are moving ahead without us, tearing down barriers to trade. The contrast is striking.

“It is baffling that this president, in the face of favorable economic conditions encouraged by his administration’s tax and regulatory policies, would put our economy and our standing globally at such peril.

“If the president is concerned about China dumping steel on the world market, he should devise a policy to address that issue. Instead, by applying tariffs so broadly, he is harming our friends and allies, and he’s lighting the fuse of a trade war from which no winners will emerge.

“Congress must act swiftly to end this economic madness.”

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