President Trump’s actions on trade this week have set the stage for tariffs to become a major discussion point during the two-week congressional break that started Friday. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, joined with Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to introduce the Trade Review Act of 2025, which would reestablish limits on the president’s ability to unilaterally impose tariffs without the approval of Congress.

A large coalition of Democratic members of Congress led by Klobuchar wrote Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to ask him to explain the impact of Trump’s “reckless tariff agenda” on farmers. 

 After meeting with Illinois pork producers this week, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said, “Let’s be clear:  President Trump’s reckless, chaotic, and poorly executed tariff strategy already is hurting the Illinois agricultural sector, which relies heavily on trade with Canada, Mexico, and China.”

“While the president is swerving down the road with no map, Illinois farmers will lose growing international markets forever to farmers in Brazil and Argentina,” Durbin said. “I will continue to speak out on behalf of Illinois farmers against these poor decisions by the president.”

But House Democrats are inclined to be much more dramatic. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Calif., introduced the Stopping a Rogue President on Trade Act, a bill that they said would “turn off the global tariffs imposed on April 2, turn off the tariff imposed by executive order for Mexico and Canada” and “require congressional approval for all new tariffs.”

Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., sent Greer a letter asking him to explain the impact of the proposed $1.5 million fees on Chinese-connected ships that dock in the United States on U.S. shipping lines that use vessels they do not own.

“I have heard from a company with ties to my district that would face significant harms if the proposed action is not amended,” Davids wrote.

“Seaboard Marine, a container shipping line headquartered in Miami, Fla., is owned by Seaboard Corporation, a Fortune 500 Company headquartered in Merriam, Kan., with 7,000 U.S. employees. Seaboard Marine is the largest U.S.-owned international carrier — it currently operates 24 vessels (nine of which are directly owned). For context, Seaboard Marine is the 37th largest ocean carrier in the world (based on 20-foot equivalent container (TEU) fleet capacity),” Davids said.

Trump issued an executive order calling on Cabinet agencies to come up with a maritime action plan in 210 days. 

Meanwhile, an abundance of studies and articles about the impact of the tariffs on the economy and agriculture were published. 

CoBank said the “historic shift in trade policy risks long-term loss of trust” and “businesses and markets grossly underestimated the size and scope of the administration’s tariff policies.” In its quarterly report, CoBank also analyzed the situation of the grains and meat sectors. 

Terrain, whose executive lead is John Newton, the former Senate Agriculture Committee GOP chief economist, titled its report “Post-Liberation, What We Know (for now).” 

AgFunder analyzed the impact on investment in innovative agriculture while Food Safety News, the publication of the Marler-Clark law firm, wrote about the impact on food imports.