EXCLUSIVE — Former Vice President Mike Pence’s organization, Advancing American Freedom, sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday suggesting the Trump administration’s tariffs will worsen the economy.
The letter is cosigned by various politicians, educators, think tank leaders, and others.
“Our Founders knew the danger of taxation without representation, and they rightly gave the power to tax only to Congress, where elected leaders would have to answer to the people for their actions,” AAF Executive Vice President Paul Teller told the Washington Examiner.
“We are calling on Congress to take immediate steps to reclaim its constitutional authority and restore the power to tax and tariff back to the American people,” he added. “Article I of the Constitution grants Congress alone the power to tax, and that power cannot be given away.”
The letter addressed to members of Congress and written by Teller says, “Your constituents are hurting because of President Trump’s tariffs. That harm will only worsen as the economic losses and price increases multiply over the coming weeks and months. It is time for Congress to reclaim the constitutional power it never had authority to give away.”
The letter suggests several “approaches to restoring tariff authority to the legislative branch.”
These approaches include: The Trade Review Act sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), which requires Congress to review tariffs within 60 days or risk expiration; a joint resolution to end the emergency declaration used to justify tariffs against Canada by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY); or a reintroduction of the ARTICLE ONE Act, which would end all presidential emergency declarations if not approved by Congress within 30 days.
“In order to stop the bleeding, protect Americans’ hard-earned savings, and sustain our unrivaled national economic greatness, Congress must take swift action to reassert its constitutional prerogative over tariff policy,” the letter concludes.
The proposal is in response to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan, which he announced earlier this month on what he coined “Liberation Day.” The United States placed a base 10% tariff rate on almost all trade partners and an additional higher reciprocal rate on most others before implementing a 90-day pause on most of what he called “reciprocal” tariffs while leaving the blanket 10% rate intact. The Trump administration is negotiating trade deals with several countries, with the notable exception of China.
The U.S. imposed a high tariff rate on China, intensifying the trade war. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that the trade war is not “sustainable” for either country and predicted it would de-escalate soon.
While Pence recently gave the Trump administration a “well above average” grade in a Wall Street Journal interview, he’s taken issue with how Trump has used tariffs in his second administration. He called the tariffs the “largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,” mirroring some Democratic rhetoric.
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Pence challenged Trump in the GOP presidential primary in 2024 and said he would not endorse the president after dropping out, although he didn’t give his nod to former Vice President Kamala Harris either.
The letter was signed by 20 people, including former North Carolina House Speaker Pro Tempore Paul Stam, Republican Arizona state Sen. Shawnna Bolick, Center for Freedom and Prosperity President Daniel J. Mitchell, California Policy Center President Will Swaim, Taxpayers Protection Alliance President David Williams, several collegiate economic professors, and several others.