Ron Wyden
Role at the time: Ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee (Democrat of Oregon), in a committee press statement
Response to this claim
Learning Resources, Inc. and six other companies said in their August 24, 2026 motion that USTR's determinations are "pretextual and preordained" and that the administration has now tried to re-create "materially the same global tariff regime under three disparate statutes."
“This is a blatant attempt to revive Trump's illegal global tariffs under a different name. These latest tariffs will continue to keep inflation and prices high for Americans, and do nothing to help workers around the world”
A statement from Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden after the administration announced the Section 301 tariffs. He urges Congress to pass the bill he introduced that week to rein in presidential tariff authority.
Why we used this label
Relative to the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs, Wyden says they revive tariffs he calls illegal under a new name and do nothing for workers, an express rejection of both the tariffs and their stated rationale. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization, because he disputes the forced-labor framing, but he also condemns the tariffs themselves.