Democrats won Congress. Now they must win back trade policy

Detailed summary

Taking back tariff power won’t be enough.

Days after winning Congress, Democrats are debating whether and how to restore congressional authority over tariffs. Some in the party are focusing on reining in Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on allies like Canada, while others hope that a 2029 Democratic President might direct Trump’s expansive tariffs toward progressive priorities, such as raising labor standards. This debate is missing two things. First, it blames trade failures on Trump, when both the Trump and Biden administrations pursued similar trade policies that failed workers. Second, it focuses on taking tariff power back from the president but overlooks Congress’s role in setting trade objectives.

I have spent my career trying to make trade work for American workers. As a progressive, I urge congressional Democrats to take stock of the lessons from both the Trump and Biden administrations, which requires a course correction, even if it means restraining a future Democratic president.

Both administrations, acting unilaterally, have cost us. Congress once shared control over trade policy. Under Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), it linked its up-or-down vote on trade agreements to its negotiation objectives that included enforceable labor and environmental standards. Both administrations essentially ignored it.

Trump used it once, for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Biden never used it, let it lapse, and redirected resources into domestic production. Both relied on decades-old tariff statutes that alienated allies and raised consumer prices. The results? Partners turned to [Al%20Jazeera,%20Oct.%2028,%202025]China, and allies have signed trade agreements without us. Under Biden’s domestic policies, U.S. factory production fell and manufacturing jobs stalled. Unilateralism, even under Biden’s “worker-centered” trade policy, didn’t work. Here’s why.

When I was a trade negotiator in the first Trump administration, we were pressured by both Democrats and Republicans to use tariffs and other sanctions…

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