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
92.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

6.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

8.2k

u/Automatic-Wonder-299 California 1d ago

On One hand, that’s pretty unconstitutional

On the other hand, the constitution has already been shredded at this point, so who care

1.3k

u/Qubeye Oregon 1d ago edited 1d ago

They can do it constitutionally by negotiating with a country so that country makes holes in their tariffs for goods made in California so they aren't included, and in exchange California spends some of their state budget to purchase goods made in that country, sponsoring visas, etc.

Perfectly legal. California gets more business revenue, keeps a good reputation, and will have a functional economy while everyone else crashes and burns under Trump.

Edit: Yikes, folks are severely misunderstanding both the Logan Act and the Treaty Clause.

California is allowed to award State contracts however they like so long as it doesn't violate state or federal laws. They want to build a school? They can hire a business from Namibia if they want, so long as the company and contract complies with state and federal law.

Namibia can, in turn, reduce tariffs against America on products which typically come from California.

There is nothing illegal about either of those things and the federal government cannot do anything about it.

What is MORE likely is President Shit-Btitches will fume (see what I did there???) about it and engage in retaliatory bullshit, wasting taxpayer money and attacking his own citizens because he's a whiny little bitch.

1

u/mono15591 1d ago

I'm not entirely sure.

"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."

In this instance is an agreement between California and another country considered a treaty?

Maybe they could get around this by just very publicly making a program that US business could take advantage of to ease their tax burden on imports. Idk I'm not a lawyer though.