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/MissionCreeper 1d ago

Honestly, I'd say they can refuse to collect the tariffs.  "Ship to this port controlled by California, we will collect the duties as they existed prior to the EO, and ignore Trump's new ones" Congress didn't pass the tariffs.  Constitution says they have to do it.

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u/sirhoracedarwin 1d ago

I think those are federal employees that work the ports

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u/linguist-in-westasia 1d ago

Ports of entry have federal customs personnel...bypassing them would give the federal government a legal reason to increase their presence in the state at and around ports, which they already have...

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u/MissionCreeper 1d ago

Hm, yeah thats a tough one.  Legislate payments to customs officials in exchange for ignoring illegal orders?  Is it a bribe if you initiate a payment to someone to not do something illegal?

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u/HowDoIEvenEnglish 1d ago

Wel sure but that’s just ignoring an illegal law. So legally there are no tariffs to ignore. And such an action would likely be blocked by courts until matter was settled. A state can’t choose to ignore legal tariffs, and aren’t ports of entry run by federal agents anyway, so it’s not like they have to listen to newsome.