Why President Trump's Tariffs are Legal

In light of the new wave of liberal lawfare being waged against President Trump’s tariffs, it’s worth considering: do the liberals have a point?

Rand Paul certainly thought so—recall that a few weeks ago he brought the Senate to a tiebreaking vote to halt the tariffs.

This is because Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution explicitly grants Congress the power to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” and to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations”. Strictly speaking, Congress has these powers—not the Executive.

However, Congress also has the authority to delegate powers to the Executive for specific purposes. This is typically done because everyone knows—even corrupt congressmen—that the Executive is both far more responsive and nimble than Congress, and carries out the duties on the ground. Accordingly, the Executive is often better suited to exercise certain congressional powers.

In that vein, Congress has delegated—authorized—the Executive significant powers over tariffs.

The author is flat-out wrong about this. With few exceptions, Congress should only delegate administrative powers to the Executive Branch. The federal government under the U.S. Constitution is designed to be poorly responsive and slow to act. And delegating the power to establish revenue collection mechanisms to the Executive Branch is a blatant violation of a clear provision in the Constitution:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises ... (Article I, Section 8)

“He should use congress. It’s what it’s for and would make his life easier.“

So herein lies the Constitutional problem. Congress was given the power to tax, to budget, and to set a maximum amount of spending. The executive, and the department of state, were given sole power to negotiate with other nations. This is also in the Constitution.

Congress delegated the powers of Tariffs to the Executive, because it was no longer a source of ‘income’. Now, Congress could take back those powers, but it would handicap the Executives ability to negotiate with other nations. Further, Congress is so slow, that by the time it adjusted Tariffs for a negotiation, it would be pointless.

The reality is, to have an effective Nation, and actually protect American industry, you need a rapid and flexible ability to negotiate. Congress will absolutely never achieve that. Forcing negotiations, especially trade via Congress, is equivalent to damaging Americans and American interests. SCOTUS should take this quickly, because it is essential to Americans, American Unions, American industry, and National interests.

To be sure, the reason why the left is using judges and the media to this goal (blocking trade negotiations)is a deliberate attempt to prevent Trump from succeeding in helping Americans and American interests. Further, any ground that has been gained in the past was willfully discarded by the last corrupt administration (see Biden’s and China payoffs). What is clear, is that NOT A SINGLE left wing nut, media outlet, or pundit, demanded that Joe Biden seek Congressional approval before removing Tariffs on China that were in place.

Politics here to everyone should be made transparent, the Democrats and the left want Trump and the Nation to fail, and they followed no such practices in the recent past, that they claim should be done now.

Now, Congress could take back those powers, but it would handicap the Executives ability to negotiate with other nations. Further, Congress is so slow, that by the time it adjusted Tariffs for a negotiation, it would be pointless.

You're completely missing a critical point on this.

A slow (even slow to the point of aggravation), deliberative process for establishing tariffs has the added advantage of being reliable on the part of the affected countries and global industries.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that no CEO is going to make major financial decisions based on a tariff policy that could be completely changed in three years -- or even three hours.

Sure.

In a normal world, the Fentanyl crisis alone with tens or hundreds of thousands dead would easily be classified correctly as a "National Emergency".

But it pales in comparison to the emergency created by our national debt, which is a result of the hollowing out of American Industry, and exacerbated by poor economic policy, ALL the result of tariff imbalances in this fantasy of "Free Trade" and the open borders.

This issue of the debt IS a National Emergency, and anyone...ANYONE who doesn't think it is not only has no idea what they are talking about, they should be viewed as an enemy of this country, especially if they are actively fighting those tariffs.

CEO’s in the US will have little problems making decisions on Tariffs changes.
You’re right though, it will be painful for CEO’s who survive importing products to the US. They might want to move production here if the market is here. I see your point, maybe you are not seeing it from a United States perspective.

Just to mention, China can change policy in a heartbeat as well. You have to be as nimble as your competitors.

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