Trump's top trade rep under fire before Senate committee after days of market chaos

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s top trade negotiator came under fire Tuesday from senators unnerved by the president's sweeping global tariffs, a market meltdown and the heightened risk of recession from an upended global trading order.

“It seems like we’ve decided to begin a trade war on all fronts,″ said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. He said he wanted to know who in the Trump administration he should hold responsible — and “choke″ — if the tariffs fail and Americans suffer from higher prices and slower economic growth. “I wish you well,″ he told U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. ”But I am skeptical.’’

Greer addressed the Senate Finance Committee a day after global markets swung wildly and some business leaders lambasted the president's aggressive bid to raise tariffs on almost every nation on earth.

Greer testified that Trump's tariffs are already getting results, convincing “about 50'' countries to come to the negotiating table to reduce their own trade barriers. He said, for example, that Vietnam is cutting its own tariffs on apples, almonds and cherries. The import taxes are designed to reduce America's massive trade deficits, but Greer conceded that it will take time and that the adjustment might ”be challenging at times.''

Lawmakers, including Republicans, are getting jittery about Trump's trade wars, especially since stocks collapsed after he announced broad tariffs last Wednesday. The market rebounded Tuesday on hopes that negotiations will convince the president to lower or suspend the tariffs, the biggest of which are set to take effect at midnight Wednesday.

Several senators demanded that Greer explain what the administration was seeking to accomplish. At various times, Trump has said the tariffs were meant to raise money for the Treasury, bring manufacturing back to the United States, protect domestic industries and get other countries to make concessions.

“What is the plan?’’ said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, top Democrat on the finance committee. “In the last week, the White House has been all over the map when it comes to these tariffs. There is no clear message about how they were determined, what they’re supposed to accomplish, how long they will be in place, whether they’re a negotiating tool or a move to try and cut the United States off from global trade and usher in a new era of 1870s-style protectionism.’’

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he would oppose the tariffs if they are intended only to raise revenue for the federal government, and not to open foreign markets to American exports.

The Constitution gives Congress authority to set taxes, including tariffs. But lawmakers have gradually ceded that authority to the White House.

Trump has been especially aggressive about using the powers of the presidency to impose his trade agenda. He claimed emergency authority to impose his massive tariffs last Wednesday. He earlier used the same powers to hit Chinese, Canadian and Mexican imports.

Trump also has bypassed Congress to tax steel, aluminum and auto imports on the grounds that they pose a national security threat to the United States.

Now lawmakers — including some Republicans — are suggesting that Congress needs to reassert its authority over trade.

“Donald Trump’s aimless, chaotic tariff spree has proven beyond a doubt that Congress has given far too much of its constitutional power over international trade to the executive branch,” Wyden said. "It is time to take that power back.''

Grassley, the Iowa Republican, and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington last week introduced legislation that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Lawmakers would then have 60 days to approve the tariffs. Otherwise, they would expire.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune showed no sign that he would allow a vote on a bipartisan bill that would exert congressional oversight of Trump’s tariffs.

“I don’t think that has a future,” Thune said of a bill from Grassley and Cantwell.

AP Writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in a nighttime attack, local authorities said Tuesday, less than 24 hours after a purported Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by Moscow ended and just over a day before Ukrainian, British, French and U.S. officials are due to meet in London to discuss the war.

Anticipation is building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Hostility has run deep between the two sides since Russia invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014.

Trump said last week that negotiations were “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war.

This came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested last week the U.S. might soon back away from negotiations altogether if they don't progress. He spoke in Paris after talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress.

A new meeting is expected Wednesday in London, and Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.

Odesa came under a “massive attack” by Russian drones overnight, injuring at least three people, the head of Odesa regional administration, Oleh Kiper, wrote on his Telegram page Tuesday.

A residential building in a densely populated urban area, civilian infrastructure and an educational facility were hit, he said.

Also, during daylight Tuesday, Russia hit the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia with two massive aerial glide bombs — a retrofitted Soviet weapon that for months it has used to lay waste to eastern Ukraine.

The attack killed a 69-year-old woman and injured 22 people, including three children, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there are no plans for talks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal to halt strikes on civilian facilities. He said Moscow is prepared to consider such a step but noted that reaching an agreement could take time.

“While talking about civilian infrastructure, it’s necessary to clearly define when such facilities can be a military target and when they can’t,” he said. “If a military meeting is held there, is it a civilian facility? It is. But is it a military target? Yes, it is. There are some nuances here that need to be discussed.”

The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 54 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, marking a resumption of long-range attacks that have blasted civilian areas and sown terror throughout the war.

Russia has stepped up in the past months its use of Shahed drones, expanding its production of the weapon and refining its tactics, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a recently published analysis.

After Putin declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday, Ukraine said it was ready to reciprocate but said Russian attacks were continuing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times.

The Associated Press was unable to verify whether a ceasefire was in place along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.

Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions.

Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine are preparing for the spring-summer military campaign, Ukrainian and Western officials say.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, Ukrainian servicemen attend an Easter service on their position in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Mykola Oliinyk/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)