Congress Can Stop This Tariff Madness Right Now

 By Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, March 4, 2025 - ...  Congress can stop this right now. Literally right now. Today. This morning. Before lunch. In a matter of hours. The Constitution gives absolute control over tariffs to Congress. As such, any power that the president enjoys must be delegated. With one bill — passed by veto-proof majorities — Congress could take back some (or all) of that power.

The law that President Trump is using to cause such havoc is known as IEEPA. It’s supposed to be for emergencies, but, given that it gives the president free rein to determine when an emergency is in force, it’s effectively a non-justiciable enabling act. Congress can repeal it, amend it, or pass a separate law that supersedes it, and there’s nothing that anybody can do to stop it. Such a law could exempt Canada and Mexico from its provisions, or make clear that other tariff deals involving those countries (like the one Trump signed in 2019) have precedence, or do anything else that Congress wants it to do, because — again! — Congress has plenary power over tariffs. Heck, if Congress passed a law that simply read, “All delegation of the legislature’s Article I, Section 8 tariff powers is hereby rescinded,” that would immediately be the law of the land.

I understand that Congress does not want to do this because, despite their protestations when their guy is out of power, both parties like the imperial presidency. (read it all)

Rod's Comment: It is unfortunate and shameful that Republicans in Congress are in such fear of the President and their own voters that they will not stand up to Trump on this issue. What is baffling is that none of them will do so.  One would think that there would be a few brave souls who would challenge Trump on this. 

Free trade has been a foundational plank in conservative ideology since at least the end of World War II.  Free trade was preached by the scholars of the conservative movement. Not only has it been a conservative principle, but the benefits of free trade have been accepted as an economic truth. It is hard to find an economist of any strip who does not tout the benefits of free trade. Not only has free trade been a Republican believe and not only is free trade accepted as beneficial by almost all economist, but there has pretty much been a free trade consensus. If anything, when any politician advocated tariffs, it was more likely to be a Democrat attempting to placate union supporters who would do so, but the majority of Democrat politicians believed in free trade also. There has been a wide bi-partisan consensus on the benefits of free trade pretty much since the Great Depression.

While I find Republicans failure to stand up to the President on this issue unfortunate and shameful, I fine the Democrats refusal to do so simply baffling.  Democrats have been playing dead. Democrats have nothing to lose by pushing back against this economic insanity.  If Democrats would introduce a bill to restrict the President's authority to set tariffs, maybe they would find a few brave Republicans who have not completely abandoned their believes who would join them. If not, Democrats could at least say, "we tried." They could voice an opposition and let people know that this is nuts. They could at least push back and make the case instead of just acting like they have no say in the matter. If Democrats are picking their battles and keeping their powder dry, now is the time to engage. This is the issue when the nation needs to see push back against Trump madness. 

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