House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady said he's open toreviewing parts of the House Republican tax blueprint as Congresslooks for a path forward on trying to make U.S. businesses morecompetitive globally — even as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinoffered his most direct criticism of the plan yet.

“We know there are legitimate concerns — including from some ofour witnesses here today and our colleagues on the other side ofthe aisle — about how it will affect American workers, businesses,and consumers,” Brady said Tuesday during a hearing to discuss acontroversial proposal for a border-adjusted tax on imports. “Weare committed to working with all of you to address theseconcerns.”

Meanwhile, Mnuchin sounded a clear warning about the BATproposal during an appearance in Washington.

“One of the problems with the border-adjusted tax is that itdoesn't create a level playing field,” said Mnuchin, who is playinga key role in shaping legislation with the House and Senate. “Ithas very different impacts on different companies, it has thepotential to pass on significant costs to the consumer, it has thepotential of moving the currencies.”

The House Republican leaders' tax plan depends in part on taxingU.S. companies' domestic sales and imported goods while exemptingexports. The concept has faced resistance from President DonaldTrump's top economic advisers as well as criticism among SenateRepublicans. Retailers and other importers have been trying to killthe idea and Target Corp. CEO Brian Cornell testified Tuesday ontheir behalf. Opposing him was Bill Simon, a former top executivefor Wal-Mart, who recently called the retail industry “hysterical”on the issue.

'Very Successful'

Simon made it clear that a border-adjusted tax would need to beimplemented carefully to avoid damaging retailers and raisingconsumer prices.

“If we take the time and do the work and sit down in a group andiron out, lay out what it will look like, I think it will be verysuccessful” for U.S. manufacturing without harming other sectors,Simon said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said May 18 that a border-adjusted tax“should have some kind of an adjustment and phase-in period.” Theretail lobby, however, has said it opposes BAT in any form.

The border adjustment portion of the House leaders' tax plan isestimated to raise more than $1 trillion in new revenue over thenext decade, helping to pay for cuts to the corporate andindividual income-tax rates that the GOP also wants. Writing arevenue-neutral tax bill is important to Republicans, who plan tomove the legislation through the Senate without any Democraticvotes. To achieve that aim, Senate rules require that the billcan't increase the federal deficit in the long run.

But Trump's White House has been cool to the BAT proposal, andRepublican leaders have said it doesn't have much chance of passingthe Senate. During Tuesday's hearing, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a TexasDemocrat, said the BAT is already on “life support.”

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