Free Republic

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...

In a sharp escalation of trade negotiations with the European Union (E.U.), Trump took to social media. on Friday and announced that he is “recommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.” “The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump claimed. “Their powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans companies, and more, have led to a trade deficit with the U.S. of more...