Pirate's Cove

While I agree with the concept of imposing reciprocal tariffs on countries which put tariffs on US exports, I’ve said that this is primarily the function of Congress. The US needs to do something to deal with the trade imbalances that make it harder and more expensive to for US companies to get their products into foreign nations. But, how much power does the Executive Branch have?

Federal court strikes down Trump’s tariffs on countries around the world

A federal court has struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs on dozens of countries, saying his effort to justify them with broad claims of national emergencies exceeded his legal authority.

The unanimous ruling of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade strikes a blow to one of the central planks of Trump’s economic agenda at a time he is seeking to use tariffs as leverage to strike trade deals around the world.

“Today’s court order is a victory not just for Oregon, but for working families, small businesses, and everyday Americans. President Trump’s sweeping tariffs were unlawful, reckless, and economically devastating,” said Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who filed one of the lawsuits challenging Trump’s tariffs, along with 11 other state attorneys general. “We brought this case because the Constitution doesn’t give any president unchecked authority to upend the economy. This ruling reaffirms that our laws matter, and that trade decisions can’t be made on the president’s whim.”

The court’s ruling also means that the government may have to pay back duties it has already collected. “Anybody that has had to pay tariffs so far will be able to get them refunded,” said Ilya Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University, who helped argue a case against the tariffs brought by several small businesses.

This is not quite the flex Rayfield thinks. The suit was brought on by Trump Derangement Syndrome. Does anyone think these states would have sued had Biden imposed the tariffs? And it means that US companies will continue to see large tariffs on their products. When Oregon sends hazelnuts, sowing sees, prepared potatoes, non-alcoholic beverages, and malt extract, their top exports to Canada, there is a 25% tariff imposed by Canada. How would it help Oregon businesses if that was, say, 10%? Goods coming from Canada did not get the 25%. Tariffs should be equitable.

The Justice Department quickly filed an appeal, setting the stage for more legal arguments over the extent of Trump’s tariff authorities. Ultimately, the case could end up at the Supreme Court.

Trump had justified his imposition of tariffs on dozens of countries based on declarations of national emergencies related to fentanyl trafficking and the threat of persistent trade deficits. Trump also imposed retaliatory tariffs on countries that responded in kind.

But the court found that the federal law that authorizes the president to impose tariffs, embargoes and sanctions in response to national emergencies — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 — “does not authorize the President to impose unbounded tariffs.”

“The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” the New York-based federal court, which hears cases on trade laws, said in its opinion.

Do they? That’s the question. There are laws going back to 1934, the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, for which Congress has delegated power to the Executive Branch, up to the IEEPA of 1977. No president has used it for tariffs until Trump. Did Congress delegate enough power to do this? Some articles say he has enough delegated power, some say not. The devil is in the details.

“The U.S. Court of International Trade agreed with what I and others have said for months: Trump was clearly abusing emergency authorities in ways not authorized by Congress to impose damaging tariffs on other countries, with obviously pretextual excuses,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said in a statement. He has introduced legislation with Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) that challenged Trump’s use of IEEPA to impose tariffs.

From everything I’ve read on the subject, Trump did not have the power to impose everything he imposed. He went beyond what was in the law. But, do Democrats and Trump haters think it is a win to make it so that American companies have big tariffs on the goods they export while competing goods imported to the U.S. do not?

Read: Court Says Trump Cannot Impose Tariffs On World »