Trump Keeps Coming Up With Legally Dubious Tariff Justifications |
Tariffs
Trump Keeps Coming Up With Legally Dubious Tariff Justifications
Trump launched his third round of broad tariffs after his first two attempts ran into legal trouble.
Jacob Sullum | From the November 2026 issue
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(Photo, middle: Geopix/Alamy)
When a president starts with a predetermined policy and then goes looking for a statutory pretext to justify it, he is building on shaky ground. President Donald Trump illustrated that point once again in July, when he announced a third round of broad tariffs after his first two attempts ran into legal trouble.
Shortly after taking office in 2025, Trump claimed to have discovered a previously unnoticed delegation of extensive tariff authority in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law that does not mention import taxes and had never been used to impose them. That claim was rejected by every........