WASHINGTON—Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) has introduced the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act, the first piece of legislation from the Trump-aligned freshman.
The Jan. 24 bill aims to rebalance trade by letting the president scale American tariffs on foreign goods to foreign tariffs on similar goods.
It also helps the president hammer at nontariff barriers—for example, subsidies to specific sectors or companies—by considering them when designing reciprocal tariffs.
Congress would be able to check those presidential moves through a disapproval resolution. Presidential tariff rates would also sunset after a few years unless extended.
“It’s just like President Trump said: look, we are for free trade, but we are for fair trade,” Moore told The Epoch Times.
He described his bill as “a negotiating tool the president needs to have.”
Trump endorsed the former West Virginia state treasurer before Election Day, when Moore defeated Democrat Steven Wendelin. Shortly after winning, he promised to introduce a reciprocal tariff bill.
Moore told The Epoch Times he has not yet heard from congressional leadership about the measure, cosponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), and other Republicans from the party’s “America First” wing, including fellow freshmen Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) and Nick Begich III (R-Alaska).
During Trump’s first term, former Republican congressman and “Real World” star Sean Duffy, now Trump’s secretary of transportation pick, sponsored a similar bill. Duffy’s bill failed to advance beyond a Ways and Means subcommittee on trade.
At the time, Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) did not support the legislation, citing the authority it would have conferred on the president.
Moore does not know if his bill will be taken up by the same House subcommittee as Duffy’s. Yet, he believes 2025 holds more promise than 2019 for Trump-aligned protection.
“There are some differences in this bill, but the timing is what’s so important,” he said. “We have a president now coming into his second term who has run on tariffs.”
Moore’s proposal could be fodder for discussion next week when House Republicans gather to talk issues at the Trump National Doral Miami.
“At the end of the day, what we want to do is become a great industrial manufacturing nation again,” Moore said.
He rejected the idea that concerns about American dependence on goods from rivals, particularly China, could be addressed instead by importing them from friendly nations—for example, Japan, whose Nippon Steel has tried to acquire U.S. Steel.
“It’s very clear we have to have that industrial capacity here at home. Don’t do what’s just convenient and cheap. Do what’s safe,” he said.
While his measure targets both tariffs and nontariff barriers, which can include subsidies, Moore said it was not intended to pour money into winners picked by the state—in this case, by its executive, Trump. Rather, it is one part of an “America First” approach to the economy. The flip side is low-wage foreign workers on American shores.
The American worker, Moore said, is “being squeezed on both sides.” Paraphrasing Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s first-term trade representative, he argued that national greatness stems from the production of valuable goods, not from consumption alone.
As state treasurer, Moore made a name for himself as an opponent of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards in finance. The politician from coal country, who is related to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) and other power players from the state, said ESG hurt the state’s energy businesses and workers while also threatening its bond rating.
“Now it’s going to cost us more money to build roads, hospitals, schools, all of these public projects that are so important to our people, because of a ridiculous score that’s made up,” he told The Epoch Times in 2022.
Supporters of Moore’s bill include the Bull Moose Project, an organization inspired by the legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt—like Trump, an advocate of tariffs.
Aiden Buzzetti, the group’s president, rejected the notion that Moore’s bill or other Trump-aligned tariff policies could hurt the United States’ financial standing.
“We’re going to either bring in more revenue with fair trade terms or open up foreign markets to more American-made goods. Neither are bad for our fiscal situation,” he told The Epoch Times.
