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/Mono_KS Foreign 1d ago

On one hand, this is unconstitutional and has no legal ground.

On the other, everything Trump does is unconstitutional and has no legal ground.

So fuck it.

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u/PercentageOk6120 1d ago

Why is it unconditional? Please explain.

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u/Muronelkaz Ohio 1d ago

Congress has the power to regulate commerce within and without the United States per the Commerce Clause,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_Clause

Generally my understanding is that states can't regulate trade between themselves or with foreign nations.

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u/PercentageOk6120 1d ago

Which is funny because Congress did not issue these tariffs.

So you can’t ask that this part of the constitution should only be partially applied. If Congress regulates it then Trump can’t enforce tariffs via EO. They must be enforced through congress.

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u/JeanLucPicardAND 1d ago

Congress actually has the power to issue tariffs from a constitutional POV and has ceded most of that power to the executive branch via legislation spanning many decades. Having said that... Traditionally, the President does not actually decree new tariffs without consulting Congress, and he's also only supposed to do it under specific circumstances... but we're obviously beyond tradition at this point.