r/politics • u/sweatycat New York • 1d ago

California to Negotiate Trade With Other Countries to Bypass Trump Tariffs

https://www.newsweek.com/california-newsom-trade-trump-tariffs-2055414
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u/Automatic-Wonder-299 California 1d ago

On One hand, that’s pretty unconstitutional

On the other hand, the constitution has already been shredded at this point, so who care

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u/Qubeye Oregon 1d ago edited 1d ago

They can do it constitutionally by negotiating with a country so that country makes holes in their tariffs for goods made in California so they aren't included, and in exchange California spends some of their state budget to purchase goods made in that country, sponsoring visas, etc.

Perfectly legal. California gets more business revenue, keeps a good reputation, and will have a functional economy while everyone else crashes and burns under Trump.

Edit: Yikes, folks are severely misunderstanding both the Logan Act and the Treaty Clause.

California is allowed to award State contracts however they like so long as it doesn't violate state or federal laws. They want to build a school? They can hire a business from Namibia if they want, so long as the company and contract complies with state and federal law.

Namibia can, in turn, reduce tariffs against America on products which typically come from California.

There is nothing illegal about either of those things and the federal government cannot do anything about it.

What is MORE likely is President Shit-Btitches will fume (see what I did there???) about it and engage in retaliatory bullshit, wasting taxpayer money and attacking his own citizens because he's a whiny little bitch.

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u/Wild_Harvest 1d ago

So wait, if I'm understanding correctly, then California is not negotiating to bypass Trump's tariffs but is willing to subsidize the tariffs and keep costs down, and in exchange the country will put in exemptions to products shipped to them from California but not, say, Nevada?

That could be a good way to both bypass the tariff, and prop up California's economy as the dominant force in the US. I could see New York doing something similar, too.

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u/throwaway267ahdhen 1d ago

No this is completely illegal. Newsom apparently has no idea what he’s talking about and neither does this guy.

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u/AwarenessReady3531 California 1d ago edited 1d ago

Newsom’s approach, as per the article, is to advocate for California-made products to be excluded from retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries. This means he is lobbying for federal support in negotiations, not independently creating exemptions. This is legal and within his role as a state leader advocating for his state’s economic interests, but it does not mean he can directly influence or bypass federal tariffs.

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u/Wild_Harvest 1d ago

If I understand, then California usually has a budget surplus, couldn't they use that surplus to pay the import duties as much as they could to ease the burden on California based businesses and consumers? Could be a way to incentivize companies to do business in CA and help ease the burden on taxpayers, too. Lets CA lower the cost of living, comparatively, to the rest of the nation since their prices won't be going up as much, and that would be a big boon to their local economies.

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u/AwarenessReady3531 California 1d ago edited 1d ago

There are various legal concerns, but the big one is the Commerce Clause, which means it's likely that the state would get sued by the federal government because subsidizing tariffs to help in-state importers could be seen as nullifying federal tariffs. Then there's also the problem that deciding which businesses or industries receive subsidies would be politically complex and could lead to accusations of favoritism, and they WOULD have to pick and choose, because even with a budget surplus, they'd not be able to cover tariffs for every single item we import. Basically, it's probably too messy. Better to focus on the legal venues that are already well-established. You can get far going down that route, and if they take this job on competently, they'll save California a lot of trouble in the next 4 years.