Trump’s Blanket Tariffs Are a Bridge Too Far

The case against his use of IEEPA is powerful. The justices shouldn’t defer to presidential power

By Douglas A. Irwin and Alan Wm. Wolff. Excerpts:

"Under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress has authority to set tariffs. Over the past century, however, a significant number of statutes have delegated trade powers to the president in certain circumstances"

"rather than invoke these standard parts of trade law, the president justified the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or IEEPA."

[which] "authorizes the president to “regulate trade,” among other things. The president’s ability to impose sanctions is largely unfettered but had never before been used to impose tariffs."

"the 1977 law doesn’t authorize the president to impose unbounded tariffs. The judges also held that the president’s authority under IEEPA may be exercised only to “deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared . . . and may not be exercised for any other purpose.”"

"the half-century-old trade deficit, or the gradual slide in the share of U.S. employment in manufacturing over many decades, doesn’t constitute a national emergency. Tariffs were hiked against countries with which the U.S. has a trade surplus, and against countries with which the U.S. already has reciprocal free-trade agreements."

"the main question before the court is whether blanket tariffs are a legitimate remedy under IEEPA"

"IEEPA makes no mention of tariffs."

"The phrase “regulate trade” is somewhat ambiguous, but Congress could have used the word tariff and didn’t. Moreover, the Trump tariffs are against all imports from every source. From a statute that doesn’t even mention tariffs, that seems a pretty large leap."

"Congress has been careful in its grants of tariff authority to the executive branch. The president has often been granted authority to reduce tariffs pursuant to trade negotiations, but these grants—known as Trade Promotion Authority—were always temporary"

"clear congressional authorization to deal with trade imbalances is contained in Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Congress deliberately limited these tariffs to 15% for 150 days."

"The fundamental problem with an expansive interpretation of IEEPA is that it would allow the president almost unlimited power that hasn’t been clearly authorized by Congress."