Democrats Say Trump’s Trade Deals Were Corrupt. They’re Gearing Up To Investigate.

Democrats know they can’t repeal President Donald Trump’s tariffs as long as he’s in the White House. But if they win control of Congress, they plan to haul in top administration officials and possibly executives to explain how Trump picked his targets in his trade war — and why he gave others a pass.

With midterm elections less than a month out, Democratic lawmakers and aides on the House Ways and Means, House Foreign Affairs and Senate Finance Committees are preparing a big oversight push on Trump’s trade policies, especially suspected quid pro quos that may have benefited wealthy interests and foreign governments.

Among the exchanges drawing scrutiny from Democrats are the president’s decision to lower tariffs on Switzerland after a visit from gift-bearing executives with Rolex and other Swiss firms and a move to ease export restrictions on the United Arab Emirates months after an Emirati royal invested in a Trump-linked cryptocurrency company.

“We're going to legislate, but we will investigate, as well,” said Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), who sits on House Ways and Means. “There's some low-hanging fruit when it comes to the appropriate investigations that need to be done in this administration's pay-to-play scheme that is so prevalent.”

Heading into November, Democrats have bet that an anti-corruption pitch will resonate with voters as they look to contrast Trump’s dealings with Americans’ cost-of-living concerns. Making good on that message is poised to create an uncomfortable few years not just for the president and his top economic officials but also for corporate executives and foreign leaders who’ve sought to shape the president’s trade decisions through favor and flattery.

“The American people have had enough of failed Republican policies that have delivered them nothing but higher costs and less opportunity while Trump’s family and friends get richer than ever off their backs,” Rep. Richard Neal, the Massachusetts Democrat poised to chair House Ways and Means, said in a statement. “Democrats are fighting to change course and deliver an agenda that brings families back from the breaking point and ends Trump’s grift.”

The countries and companies that have already drawn scrutiny from congressional Democrats have denied any wrongdoing. The Swiss business delegation that gifted Trump a Rolex watch and a gold bar last year insisted it had cleared the presents with the White House ethics counsel, for example. And they argue Trump’s trade policy shifts are driven by sound policy and mutual economic benefit, rather than any gifts or special access.

The White House is accusing Democrats of going after the president because they have no trade policy of their own.

“The Democrats are already telegraphing that, once again, they have no agenda to improve the lives of Americans and will instead continue their decade-long obsession with investigating President Trump,” said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman. “The President negotiated nearly 20 trade deals that have totally reshaped the international economic order to reduce our trade deficit, revitalize American manufacturing, reestablish fair trading practices and level the playing field for American workers. President Trump has always put America First; the Democrats continue to put America last.”

Countries and companies are already gearing up for more scrutiny. The Embassy of Switzerland said it continues to engage with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.

“Our role is to represent Switzerland’s interests and support a strong and constructive bilateral relationship,” a spokesperson for the embassy said. “Switzerland remains committed to open and constructive engagement with U.S. partners on trade and economic issues through established diplomatic and economic channels.”

According to seven lawmakers, congressional staffers and former trade officials, Democrats plan to demand answers on who in the administration was responsible for selecting targets for tariff relief, foreign investments and foreign deals on critical mineral supplies and semiconductor sales — and the criteria they used. Lawmakers also plan to zoom in on which companies stood to benefit from specific trade and investments deals, and whether put their finger on the scales.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), who is in line to chair the Foreign Affairs subcommittee that oversees export controls said in an interview she wants to dig into Trump policy changes allowing more advanced U.S. chips to flow to China and UAE.

“It is as much about specific companies as it is about how the [Commerce Department] is being run and how these deals are being allowed that are still giving China access to our most advanced chips,” Kamlager-Dove said, adding that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was “implicated” in some of those deals.

A spokesperson for the Department of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment.

There are also more process-oriented questions that need answering, said a second Democratic aide granted anonymity to discuss the planning. They include whether the many tariff-lowering trade deals Trump has announced on social media have been committed to text or amount to handshake agreements. A third Democratic aide described the deals as glorified press releases.

The administration has given inconsistent descriptions of many of the deals, and in some cases it’s been unclear if the foreign government involved is even on the same page.

Just last week, Trump announced South Korea had agreed to a list of projects to direct $200 billion of investment to the U.S., including a liquefied natural gas project in Alaska. Seoul immediately disputed the details.

The administration’s critical minerals deals are set to come under particularly intense scrutiny, according to the Democratic aides. China currently has a near-monopoly on the supply chains for those materials, which are crucial components in consumer technology, clean energy machinery and defense equipment, and The Trump administration has been racing to develop alternative supply chains to reduce its reliance on Beijing.

Officials at the Departments of Defense, State, Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have announced memoranda of understanding to cooperate on and invest in critical mineral extraction with countries like Morocco, Peru and Chile, but they have yet to make the text of those MOUs public. Several of Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” trade deals, including both the Indonesia and Malaysia deals, also tie tariff relief to U.S. access to minerals.

“These secretive deals were concluded without meaningful congressional input or public scrutiny,” the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen complained in an August report.

Ways and Means Democrats invited one of the group’s officials, Melinda St. Louis, to testify at a September hearing on critical mineral supply chains, where she and the lawmakers both underscored concerns about unregulated mining and security issues.

Democrats’ have determined scrutinizing Trump’s trade policies is likely to bear more fruit than attempting to overturn the double-digit tariffs he has imposed on all of the country’s top trade partners and many key manufacturing sectors.

While there’s caucus-wide agreement on holding votes to roll back some of those tariffs, particularly on traditional allies, the filibuster and Trump’s veto power make any effort to scale back the president’s trade authorities virtually impossible without mass GOP defections. More Republican lawmakers are breaking with Trump on tariffs as the election nears, particularly in border states deeply affected by his ongoing trade war with Canada. But there are no signs that the floodgates are opening beyond those in tough midterm races.

“I don't know what crucial signal they're waiting for on their side before they decide that they can speak their mind on tariffs, but it kind of feels like it's going to be a dam breaking,” the first Democratic aide said. “Either it just will happen or it won't. And so far it's not happened, and so I wouldn't be surprised if they stick to their party line on this.”

Democratic aides believe they might have more success forcing votes to provide targeted tariff relief for specific industries. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) introduced a bill this summer to shield school supplies and educational materials, while Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) has a bill to exempt homebuilding materials. Democrats see opportunities for picking up votes from industry-aligned Republicans, though they have yet to win any GOP co-sponsors.

Businesses would welcome attempts by Democrats to expand oversight of the tariff exemption processes and discourage ad-hoc relief, said a former USTR official now working in the private sector granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

But the former official said that the main thing most U.S. companies crave is tariff stability, which is unlikely while Trump remains in the Oval Office.

“I'm not sure that” Democrats taking Congress “completely wins the day for them,” the person said.

Ari Hawkins contributed reporting.