The Senate moves to regain tariff power

Senators, including some Republicans, are trying to regain Congress' constitutional authority over tariffs in the wake of President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff hikes.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed a resolution ending a national emergency declared to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China with four Republicans in favor.

The next day, two senators, one Democrat and one Republican, introduced a bill to post the declared customs duties by Congress.

to do that duty

It cannot be denied that Congress has the sole authority to impose tariffs. As the March 24th printing edition of New American explained:

The US Constitution clearly and explicitly delegates to Congress with Article 8, the first provision of the authorities, “collecting and collecting taxes, obligations, fraud, and goods.” After two provisions, the Constitution grants Parliament the power to “regulate commercial transactions with foreign countries.”

Furthermore, in the last century, Congress delegated its tariff power to the President (to avoid the negative effects of tariffs),

Generally, a branch of the federal government does not have the authority to transfer constitutionally delegated powers to another branch. Otherwise, the entire assumption of power separation is invalid.

emergency exit

In early February, using the powers granted him under the International Emergency Economic Force Act of 1977 (unconstitutional), Trump declared a national emergency in the US trade deficit. This allowed him to slap 10-25% tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico.

Most Republicans acquiesced with the move, but as most Democrats certainly do if Trump is one of them — the Senate on Wednesday decided to fight back. Upper Chamber voted 51-48 to pass a resolution sponsored by Sen. Tim Kane (D-Va.) to withdraw Trump's national emergency.

“The vote has existed as the first major break with Trump since the start of his second term from the otherwise mostly compliant room of Republican control,” Politics observed.

Party Pooper

Four Republicans joined the Democrats to vote for the resolution. Three are medium to liberal. Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY.), Susan Collins (R-Main), and Lisa Markovsky (R-Alaska). But one is definitely not. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY.) conspired to find a solution.

Collins and Markovsky have practical reasons to oppose Canadian imports. Their provinces cross the border to Canada and therefore engage in many trades with the country. Murkowski told Politico “without ambiguity,” the publication said, “Canadian tariffs would hurt my province.”

Naturally, Paul had a somewhat principled rationale for Trump's refusal to succumb to Trump's demands to “go on the Republican bandwagon.” I wrote the reason:

In his remarks on the Senate floor, Paul laughed at the idea that drug dealers would pay tariffs in the first place. He also highlighted the economic damage that tariffs are likely to cause to American families, businesses, farmers and others. He pointed to the fact that the Trump administration began bailing farmers out of tariffs in 2018 and called them “approval.” He pointed to estimates that tariffs increase the costs of homes, cars and many consumer goods.

“Do we have to bail out the car companies too? Do we need to bail out everyone who gets hurt by these tariffs? That's not a good idea,” he said. “In spite of the opposition arguments, Americans know that tariffs are taxes that they have to pay.”

Customs Sheriff

Just hours before the Senate passed the resolution, Trump announced he was leviing at least 10% more tariffs on various countries.

The next day, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced a bill that places most of the presidential tariffs on parliamentary review. Specifically, it requires Congress to notify the increase in tariffs within 48 hours of the President's order. As part of the notice, the President must explain his reasons for imposing tariffs and explain the potential impact on businesses and consumers. If Congress fails to pass a joint resolution approving the tariffs within 60 days, they will expire. Furthermore, Congress will be given the authority to terminate customs duties at any time, simply by passing the resolution.

In a press release, Cantwell said:

Trade wars can be devastating (just like actual wars). Therefore, the founding fathers gave Congress a clear constitutional authority over war and trade. The bill reasserts Congress's role in trade policy to ensure that rules-based trade policies are transparent, consistent and benefit the American people.

“For a long time, Congress has delegated clear powers to regulate interstate and foreign commercial transactions to the administrative department,” Grassley said in the same release. The bill introduced by him and Cantwell argued that “reaffirms the constitutional role of Parliament and ensures that Parliament speaks up to trade policy.”

It remains to be seen whether these measures will ultimately become law. The Grassley Cantwell bill is just beginning its journey, and similar bills in the House do not have Republican co-hosts. The resolution to resolve the national emergency in February was declared dead when he arrived in the House by speaker Mike Johnson (r-la.), and Trump vowed to reject it at an event where it was unlikely to reach his desk.