With just a little over a month of Donald Trump’s term under his belt and an economic crisis already on the horizon, one Conservative analyst has already seen enough — and he’s openly begging Congress to find their spines and do something to stop this “madness” before it’s too late.
Conservative analyst Charles W. Cooke has penned a fiery new piece for the National Review, in which he made it crystal clear that the United States Congress actually does possess the power to “stop this tariff madness right now,” before this country tips over the precipice of a catastrophic trade war that will alter the US economy as we know it.
Right after his term began in January, Trump cut a “deal” with Canada and Mexico to shelve his proposed 25 percent tariffs for 30 days, to give the respective countries time to decide if they were essentially willing to comply with his demands.
That 30-day period has come and gone, and President Trump did not waste a moments’ time in slamming both of the United States’ neighbors with outrageous tariffs — a move that has effectively sent the stock market into a freefall and left major, multi-million dollar companies desperately scrambling to do damage control as many of the goods and materials they require are now subject to enormous taxes at the US borders. We saw a similar response across the nation after Trump implemented his 20 percent tariff against China last month, which left Americans with their jaws on the floor at the new, astronomical shipping fees that resulted.
As if the state of things weren’t already bad enough, it’s undeniable that the economic struggle will only grow worse as the targeted countries begin to implement retaliatory tariffs against the US — something Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made more than clear he is willing to do.
“Congress can stop this right now. Literally right now. Today. This morning. Before lunch. In a matter of hours,” Cooke wrote, calling on Congress to grow a spine and actually do their jobs. “The Constitution gives absolute control over tariffs to Congress. As such, any power that the president enjoys must be delegated. With one bill — passed by veto-proof majorities — Congress could take back some (or all) of that power.”
Donald Trump has the authority to unilaterally pass tariffs thanks to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which, as indicated by its name, is meant to be used only under emergency situations. However, the law allows the sitting US president the power to determine what constitutes an “emergency.”
“Congress can repeal it, amend it, or pass a separate law that supersedes it, and there’s nothing that anybody can do to stop it,” Cooke writes. “Such a law could exempt Canada and Mexico from its provisions, or make clear that other tariff deals involving those countries (like the one Trump signed in 2019) have precedence, or do anything else that Congress wants it to do, because — again! — Congress has plenary power over tariffs. Heck, if Congress passed a law that simply read, ‘All delegation of the legislature’s Article I, Section 8 tariff powers is hereby rescinded,’ that would immediately be the law of the land.”
According to the Conservative analyst, Congress is reluctant to actually do so because “both parties like the imperial presidency” and want to be able to harness these powers for their own gain when their party is in charge. Cooke admonishes this selfishness as “dumb” and “shortsighted.”
“Its legality notwithstanding, there was arguably a time in history at which it made utilitarian sense for the president to be in charge of trade deals. But times change,” he writes. “In a system such as ours, it is utterly bizarre that president enjoys this quasi-monarchical authority. If it wishes, Congress can remove it before you’ve even finished reading this post.”
Read Cooke’s full piece with National Review here.
Featured image via The Resistance Report Gallery