Automotive News (2025) recently displayed an eye-opening strategy when endorsing a U.S. Senate bill that would strengthen Congress’s role in overseeing the president’s tariff policies. For one thing, the unsigned editorial emphasized in the headline that the bill was “bipartisan,” and the lead photo was of Republican Chuck Grassley. Left unmentioned was that the bill’s primary sponsor was Democrat Maria Cantwell; Grassley was reportedly only a cosponsor (Legiscan, 2025).
More provocatively, the editorial declared that the bill was in sync with the goals of our constitution’s framers. Because they “lived through similar despotic taxation from King George III,” they “had no interest in enabling such abuses from denizens of the nascent executive branch they were creating.” The implication here was that Trump was acting like a king.
The proposed legislation — Senate Bill 1272 — “would require Congress to approve any emergency tariff imposed by a president after two months. If no congressional approval is forthcoming, the emergency tariff would expire.” Automotive News acknowledged that the measure “would not stop the Trump administration’s unprecedented, unwarranted attack on the global trade that this industry so relies upon, but it would make it much more difficult for this president — and future ones — to so disrupt the nation’s economy” (Automotive News, 2025).
Is Automotive News willing to do what it takes to win?
The auto industry “must get behind” this legislation “with all deliberate speed,” Automotive News (2025) insisted. As I write this, 14 senators — including seven Republicans — have signed on in support of the bill. However, there may not be enough votes to pass it in the House. In addition, President Trump has threatened to veto the bill if Congress approves it (Carney, 2025).
Cantwell insisted that the economic fallout from Trump’s recent tariff announcements could lead to two-thirds of both chambers overriding his veto (Fadel and Perez, 2025). However, Zachary B. Wolf (2025) questioned whether that was the case. He also wondered whether “the lawmakers’ remedy to end tariffs — votes in the House and Senate — would work.”
Also see ‘Automotive News subscriptions have become even more costly’
Automotive News was clearly wearing its political organizer hat when writing this editorial. Thus, the focus was on rallying around the flag rather than providing dispassionate political analysis. But if we are being reality based, the most likely way that Congress will rein in Trump’s tariff policies is for the Democrats to retake at least the House in the 2026 mid-term elections.
This raises an interesting question: Will Automotive News put political necessity above its traditional affinity for Republicans? I suspect that may depend on how much economic pain the auto industry experiences over the next year and a half.
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RE:SOURCES
- Automotive News; 2025. “In our opinion: Bipartisan bill to restore tariff sanity deserves wide support.” Unsigned editorial posted March 10.
- Carney, Jordain; 2025. “Trump threatens veto of bill to curb tariff power.” Politico. Posted April 7.
- Fadel, Leila and Ana Perez. “Sen. Maria Cantwell says there is bipartisan support to rein in Trump’s tariffs.” NPR. Posted April 9.
- Legiscan; 2025. “US Congress Senate Bill 1272.” Page accessed April 18.
- Wolf, Zachary; 2025. “Congress gave presidents power over tariffs. They could aways take it back.” CNN. Posted April 8.
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