President Donald Trump just declared that the Trump Administration will forge ahead with a strong tariff policy regardless of the Supreme Court: “One way or the other, we’re going to do it.”
One year into his second term and the President’s America First trade agenda is working. With the midterms approaching and left-wing activists energized, Republicans in Congress must ensure that we can make the promised $2,000 dividend payment to American families by fighting for Trump’s America First tariff agenda, which is bringing millions of jobs back to America. This means defending Trump’s tariffs, particularly on critical metals and minerals, as they are attacked by bureaucrats and foreign companies fighting the President’s agenda.
Having served in the U.S. Congress for 14 years and as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security, I’m passionate about the strategic importance of critical metals used by our military. During his first term, Trump imposed Section 232 tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel, which I fully supported to save American jobs and fortify our national security.
Sadly, once President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the most radical destructive political duo in American history, took office they rolled back Trump’s aluminum and steel tariffs with wild tariff exemptions. Upon his historic reelection, Trump restored Section 232 aluminum and steel tariffs on all foreign countries. In June 2025, the President strengthened the tariff rate to 50% to save tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs.
Ever since Trump’s updated steel and aluminum tariffs went into effect in 2025, importers who put profit before patriotism and D.C. government bureaucrats have been working overtime to undermine the true intention of the President’s orders. Across the nation, aluminum extruders manufacture parts to support America’s warfighters and our critical infrastructure, including the U.S. energy grid. Aside from essential parts needed to keep America safe, U.S. aluminum extruders also manufacture parts for our windows, doors, cars, trucks and homes. This vital American industry — which supports over 200,000 direct and indirect American jobs — is on life support because of foreign importers waging war on the domestic industry.
How is this cheating happening in the D.C. swamp? Foreign importers are conspiring with liberal activists and Deep State bureaucrats to falsely report the value of the fabricated aluminum entering our country. These foreign importers and bureaucrats, many of whom suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, falsely undermine foreign aluminum and report only a small portion of the full value of applicable foreign products. Essentially, these foreign countries and importers are only paying duties based on the cost of the raw material rather than the real value of the fully manufactured product, which is tremendously higher. While the cheating is complex, if nothing changes 200,000 American jobs will be wiped out before the midterms!
The simple reality is Trump’s aluminum tariff is not being correctly enforced by the Deep State and thousands of aluminum extrusion jobs are killed off. Importers are flooding the U.S. market with foreign aluminum parts rather than bringing tens of thousands of jobs back to America. U.S. Customs is allowing this to happen, undermining the effectiveness of Trump’s efforts to bring jobs back to America and strengthen our national security.
With 200,000 American jobs on the line in key swing states, the Trump hating bureaucrats involved need to fix this problem before it’s too late. The way forward is clear: the President should direct the Commerce Department and U.S. Customs to close the loophole and enforce the aluminum and steel programs as intended by applying a specific dollar per pound tariff to the weight of the imported aluminum and steel products. We must not allow foreign importers to kill off American manufacturing jobs with unfairly traded products.
If the Deep State and Obama-era bureaucrats continue to let foreign countries cheat the system and sabotage the President’s programs, Republicans in tight Congressional races will be negatively impacted. MAGA Republicans have fought long and hard to get President Trump elected and we must keep control of Congress. We must not allow foreign importers and the enemy within to overshadow Trump’s achievements.
With the 2026 midterms upon us, now is the time to stop efforts by left-wing bureaucrats and foreign countries working to undermine the President’s winning agenda. Republicans can keep our majority in the U.S. Congress this November if we double down and keep fighting for millions of American workers.
Congressman Jeff Duncan served as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy, climate and grid security. The Congressman served seven terms in the House from 2011 to 2025.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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