Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Global Trade Accountability Act Friday, a bill that would subject all Executive Branch trade actions (including raising tariffs) to congressional approval. ... The Global Trade Accountability Act would require the president to secure a joint resolution approved by both houses of Congress before any 'unilateral trade action' could take effect. The act does allow for 'national emergency' exceptions, but only for 90 days, after which the president would still have obtain approval from both houses of Congress.
Require all Executive Branch trade actions, including raising tariffs, to be subject to congressional approval through a joint resolution before taking effect, with limited 'national emergency' exceptions.
Occurrences
The Global Trade Accountability Act would require the president to secure a joint resolution approved by both houses of Congress before any 'unilateral trade action' could take effect. The act does allow for 'national emergency' exceptions, but only for 90 days, after which the president would still have obtain approval from both houses of Congress.
"The Global Trade Accountability Act would require the president to secure a joint resolution approved by both houses of Congress before any 'unilateral trade action' could take effect. The act does allow for 'national emergency' exceptions, but only for 90 days, after which the president would still have obtain approval from both houses of Congress."
The Global Trade Accountability Act would require both chambers of Congress to affirmatively approve of any “unilateral trade actions” by the president before they could take effect, which are defined in this legislation as any increases in tariffs or duties, tightening of tariff-rate quotas or quantitative restrictions on imports, and other restrictions or prohibitions on imports. However, the Act does allow for “national emergency” exceptions for a period of 90 days, after which the president would still have to obtain approval from both chambers of Congress.
Evidence
Senator Mike Lee said the bill would subject unilateral actions by the president to increase trade barriers to congressional approval, and that it would require both chambers to affirmatively approve unilateral trade actions before they could take effect, with a national-emergency exception limited to 90 days.
GovInfo records S.1060 as introduced in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Finance, with the bill title 'Global Trade Accountability Act' and a full title describing congressional review of unilateral trade actions by the executive branch.
Assessments
Lee clearly pursued this policy: his March 11, 2021 Senate press release says the Global Trade Accountability Act would require congressional approval before unilateral presidential trade actions such as tariff increases could take effect, with a 90-day national-emergency exception. He also continued advancing it in a later Congress, but the cited official legislative record shows only introduction and committee referral, not enactment. As of the current evaluation date, no federal law has delivered Lee's promised regime requiring executive-branch trade actions to receive advance approval through a joint resolution before taking effect. Because Lee made a serious legislative effort but did not secure the promised outcome, this is best scored as never delivered with effort credit.
Mike Lee repeatedly introduced and promoted the Global Trade Accountability Act, which closely matches the promise by requiring congressional approval through a joint resolution before executive trade actions such as tariff increases could take effect, with limited emergency exceptions. However, the relevant bills remained introduced/referred and did not become law, so the promised federal policy change was not delivered. Because Lee made a serious legislative effort toward the promised outcome, this warrants an effort badge rather than partial or full delivery.