Constitutional Scholarship On Twitter

Because the constitution gives tariff powers to the president without congress

— Jerry Chesler (@JerryChesler) September 28, 2024

Nope.

While the U.S. Constitution grants to Congress the power to levy tariffs on goods, Congress has delegated some of that power to the Executive Branch over time. The U.S. Constitution states in Article I, Section 8 that “The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” Congress passed general tariff legislation until the early 1930s. However, in a move to grant more flexibility to the President to revitalize global trade in the midst of the Great Depression, Congress gave the Executive Branch the power to negotiate tariff reductions within levels pre-approved by Congress through the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first President to have the authority to levy tariffs and negotiate bilateral trade agreements without the approval of Congress. 

The Executive Branch has continued to exercise a level of authority over tariffs over the past few decades. In 1962 President Kennedy signed into law the Trade Expansion Act, which allows the President to adjust tariffs based on threats to national security under section 232.3 This is the authority under which President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, which have a vast impact on some of the United States’ biggest trading partners and many U.S. industries. Since the beginning of the year, there have been bipartisan efforts in Congress to try to regain some of the power that was delegated to the Executive branch to regulate trade.

There it is. Trump did learn something after 4 years in office. But as usual, he learned the wrong lesson.

Congress has the power. Congress can take it back. That article appears to date from 2018, and even then even Chuck Grassley supported limiting Trump’s power to impose tariffs. I don’t know if it got anywhere, but 20% tariffs across the board would probably get a veto proof reversal in place very quickly.

Not quickly enough, of course. Better to avoid the problem altogether.