WASHINGTON — Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) introduced a bill Wednesday to spare Israeli and Ukrainian imports from reciprocal tariffs that President Trump has set to take effect next month — if the executive action doesn’t get paused further by federal courts.
The Supporting American Allies Act would shield Israel from a US-imposed 17% tariff and Ukraine from a 10% tariff that will be implemented July 8 without any more court interventions.
“At a time when American families are rightfully demanding action to lower costs, the Trump Administration instituted the largest tax increase since 1968,” Moskowitz said in a statement. “That’s what their tariffs are — a tax on American families that makes goods inaccessible, threatens retirement accounts, and takes a sledgehammer to US economic growth.”
“I support efforts to increase domestic manufacturing, but those efforts shouldn’t come at the expense of our global standing, our national security, and the strength of our economy,” he added.
“Congress has to stand up to the destruction these tariffs are threatening against American families and our allies Israel and Ukraine, and I’m leading the charge to do it.”
A federal trade court initially paused Trump’s global tariffs last week, but was overruled shortly after by an 11-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
States and small businesses that brought the legal challenge have until Thursday to respond to that ruling.
Senior White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has claimed that the additional revenue from the reciprocal tariffs alone would top $3 trillion over the next decade, but independent analysts like the Penn Wharton Budget Model have projected $3.4 trillion in revenue as the total received from the entire Trump tariff regime.
Other sources like the Yale Budget Lab have forecast tariffs costing each American household $2,200 annually.
The bill, which is backed by Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Dan Goldman (D-NY), is likely a last resort for tariff opponents in Congress should the Trump administration prevail in court challenges over the reciprocal duties.
A companion version introduced in the Senate by Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto was voted down by Republicans shortly after Trump’s global tariffs were announced.
Israel dropped all duties on the US in April. That same month, Ukrainian officials expressed openness to zeroing out their tariffs as well before the president delayed them from taking effect.
Russia was never hit with the reciprocal tariffs due to previous economic sanctions preventing “any meaningful trade” with the US, according to the White House.
House and Senate Republicans over the past wek have been calling for tougher sanctions to help wind down Moscow’s more than three-year war with Ukraine.
