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/Searchlights New Hampshire 1d ago edited 1d ago

A President should not have the authority single-handedly to disrupt the entire economy with gigantic taxes. I'm not addressing whether he's legally allowed. I know that he's legally allowed. I'm saying it is wrong. It violates the social contract.

No taxation without representation.

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u/Severe_Experience190 1d ago

He's not legally allowed. The power to tariff lies with Congress as outlined in the constitution, he's using the claim of an 'invasion' from immigrants to enact war time powers and using that to justify tariffs. It's a gross abuse of power.

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u/Nunya_Business- 1d ago

Great point but I just wanted to clarify some things. You are right that the power to enact tariffs lies with the legislature, however over the years the legislature has delegated a lot of its trade powers to the executive branch so as to make treaties and international relationship easier. Specifically they give the president broad authority to enact tariffs when they are to combat “unfair trade practices “. Trump has abused this by coming up with bs calculations as to how much a country is charging US exports even if these numbers are not based on solid economic reality or theory. Congress of course has the power to stop the tariffs but congress has not been a functioning branch of government for a long long while.