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/Brasilionaire 1d ago

I mean, when the entire right-wing, controlling the federal government, has an attitude of “fuck anything California”, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for California to not be in lockstep with the federal government.

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u/eamonious 1d ago

The way I conceive of it is that tariffs are supposed to be set by Congress, in which states always have active representation.

If the executive branch is going to try and set effectively permanent tariffs via a fabricated (and anyway, completely unrelated) emergency context, to try and circumvent the intended Congressional authority, that’s a violation of states’ rights under the Constitution, which justifies states taking up their own representation to negotiate directly with foreign markets.