Republicans skeptical of Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel, aluminum

President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. had nothing to lose in a trade war, dismissing mounting opposition to planned tariffs from dismayed foreign leaders and skeptical Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The president insisted that tariffs on steel and aluminum were needed to fight back against countries he said have been ripping off the U.S. for years.

“When we’re behind on every single country, trade wars aren’t so bad,” Mr. Trump said at a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lfven. “When we’re down by $30 billion, $40 billion, $60 billion, $100 billion, the trade war hurts them. It doesn’t hurt us.”

The president’s proposal for tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum set off a firestorm of opposition from trading partners around the world and a mutiny among free-trade conservatives in Mr. Trump’s Republican Party.

“There is a lot of concern among Republican senators that this could sort of metastasize into a larger trade war, and many of our members are discussing with the administration just how broad, how sweeping this might be,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Mr. Trump had to face off over the issue with Mr. Lfven, whose government last week blasted the proposal and vowed to retaliate as part of a trade war.

Sweden, home to Volvo, bristled when Mr. Trump last week threatened to counter retaliatory tariffs by the European Union with a tax on automobile imports.

Mr. Trump repeated the threat in person to Mr. Lfven, accusing the European Union of using unfair trade barriers against U.S. products.

Mr. Lfven came to the White House meeting with a stern warning that the European Union will retaliate against steel and aluminum tariffs with taxes on U.S. exports of blue jeans, bourbon whiskey, corn and motorcycles.

“They can do whatever they’d like, but if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25 percent on their cars, and believe me, they won’t be doing it very long,” Mr. Trump said with Mr. Lfven at his side.

Despite the tough talk on trade, both leaders did say there’s still room for cooperation between their countries, notably on confronting North Korea and its nuclear weapons program.

Mr. Trump is expected to officially roll out the tariffs as soon as this week.

The administration justified the tariffs by saying the levy would correct trade imbalances incurred from dumping of cheap subsidized steel and aluminum in the U.S. and it would protect national security by rebuilding industries vital to equipping the military.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said there is “clearly abuse occurring” from countries like China flooding the global steel market. But he said the national security justification the administration is providing is a bit broad and more prone to retaliation from other countries.

“I think the smarter way to go is to make it more surgical and more targeted,” said Mr. Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, where Harley-Davidson has its headquarters.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also had to fend off attacks on the proposed tariffs.

“We’re trying to balance protecting these industries, which are very important, with making sure we don’t do undue harm to the economy,” he told a House panel. “We are looking to make sure that U.S. companies can compete fairly around the world.”

Republicans also fear that negative economic effects from the tariffs will step on their 2018 campaign strategy to run on the economic boost from the $1.5 trillion tax cut law.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump Tuesday that he has “very deep concerns” about the proposed tariffs, saying they threaten to overshadow the good economic news in the wake of the tax law.

“I am particularly troubled that the impact of these proposed tariffs would undermine the overwhelming and immediate success of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that we worked together to bring into law,” wrote Mr. Hatch, whose committee has jurisdiction over tax and trade issues.

Rep. Kevin Yoder, Kansas Republican, raised concerns in the hearing with Mr. Mnuchin about the effects the plan could have on industries in his home state — and also noted they could wipe out the positive effects from the tax cuts.

“I’m concerned that after everything we’ve done to help our constituents through tax reform, the tariffs the president recently announced are going to undermine some of these recent gains,” Mr. Yoder said.

• Sally Persons contributed to this report.