r/politics • u/sweatycat New York • 20h 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/wankbollox 20h ago

If Texas can ignore the federal government and make its own immigration policy, then I guess California can make its own trade policy. Seems fair. 

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u/TinFoilBeanieTech 19h ago

States setting their own trade agreements is totally unconstitutional, but we haven't been following that for a while now anyway. I'm hoping the whole west coast can form it's own trade coalition.

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u/okram2k America 19h ago

The president setting tariff rates is also a violation of the separation of powers laid out in the constitution but we decided it was okay for congress to give their power to the executive branch for some reason.

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u/BongRipsForNips69 17h ago

tariff rates is also a violation of the separation of powers

Congress increasingly took a less active role in levying tariffs directly, especially after the 16th Amendment’s ratification in 1913 led to a federal income tax that replaced tariffs as a main source of federal government revenue. In 1934, Congress passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, which gave President Franklin Roosevelt the ability to change tariffs rates by 50% and negotiate bilateral trade agreements without additional approval from Congress. Since then, the president has mostly controlled and executed tariffs policies as defined by Congress.

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u/redditlvlanalysis 14h ago

Because we basically got rid of broad tariffs after the great depression for a reason