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/GearBrain Florida 1d ago

Is it? Section 10 of the US Constitution:

Section 10: Powers Denied to the States

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Section 8, however:

Section 8: Powers of Congress

The Congress shall have Power To ...

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

As a layperson, it would appear to me that the Constitution does not prohibit a State from entering into a trade agreement. I would assume it would fall under "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations", but words don't mean anything anymore, so Newsome can just give Congress the bird and do it anyway.

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

i feel like under this language, technically, states that import can completely ignore tariffs implemented by trump simply because the tariffs werent implemented by congress

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u/taintedblu Washington 1d ago

I wonder if the courts could shoot that down by saying that the executive was only vested the authority to impose tariffs by congress.

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

That’s how I feel about this, I was listening to Rand Paul yesterday give his speech in the senate, which was a very good speech pertaining specifically to the Canada tariffs but applicable to these as well, that the president doesn’t have the authority to implement these tariffs under the emergency order he’s using, and in fact the constitution doesn’t allow the executive to impose tariffs simply because the constitution doesn’t allow congress to delegate away their power like the law says. It could simply be a case that no one brought it before a court to be struct down as unconstitutional

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u/dohrk Oregon 1d ago

We've reached Air Bud levels of thinking already.

Christ this is exhausting.

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u/BODYBUTCHER 1d ago

What other avenues besides congress directly does the American population have to challenge the administration directly?

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u/BoneyNicole Alabama 15h ago

Well, there’s the fourth box of liberty and a whole very pesky amendment that we can use.