Two Senate Democrats are questioning what they describe as the Trump administration’s closed-door decisions on excluding certain sectors from the president’s tariffs, allowing relief largely for those with political connections.
Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland are requesting the administration disclose information about how it grants product exclusions from imposed tariffs.
They are questioning the administration’s “reliance on a secret, closed-door process for exempting thousands of products from tariffs,” arguing that this has favored politically connected companies and industries.
“This process has lacked transparency and procedural fairness for American stakeholders, especially small businesses and family farms, and it has opened the door to corruption and economic harm,” Mr. Wyden and Mr. Van Hollen wrote in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Mr. Wyden is the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. Mr. Van Hollen is ranking Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science.
The Democrats said that after Mr. Trump announced broad tariffs in April 2025, the administration decided behind closed doors to exclude certain electronics products, including smartphones, computers, and semiconductors, from the global tariffs.
In a second wave of exemptions, they said, the administration excluded certain agricultural products, “seemingly in recognition” that the tariffs have harmed American farmers.
The administration also exempted “certain aircraft, aircraft parts, and pharmaceutical products—a confusing decision that seems to be at odds with the administration’s simultaneous … investigations of the national security risks posed by these imports,” they wrote.
The letter asks for information from the respective Cabinet agencies about the process involving the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
President Trump has unilaterally claimed authority under the act to impose sweeping global tariffs. But Mr. Wyden and Mr. Van Hollen said his administration has excluded certain goods seemingly on an “ad hoc basis and through an opaque process that appears to favor the politically connected.”
“The administration’s failure to open a formal, public process to request these exclusions has prevented Main Street from ever making their case to access relief,” they wrote. “Small businesses have been left in the dark as to how, when, and under what circumstances relief from these tariffs may be possible. Americans deserve a transparent and legitimate tariff exclusion process that does not prioritize the needs of well-connected insiders over American families.”
The duo has long opposed the president’s tariffs, pushing legislation to repeal Mr. Trump’s global tariffs and regain congressional authority over trade.
They asked Mr. Greer and Mr. Lutnick to respond to their questions within a month.
• Mary McCue Bell can be reached at mbell@washingtontimes.com.
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