In an opening salvo to his next trade war, President-elect Donald Trump announced that one of his first actions as president would be to levy 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10 percent tariffs on China. In this instance, Trump is trying to use tariffs as leverage to get Canada and Mexico to act on border issues, but he seems to have infinite reasons for proposing tariffs.

Whether any of his tariff announcements on social media actually happen is hard to predict, but they are a reminder that much of the damage that could result from raising tariffs can be avoided if Congress takes action to rein in presidential abuse of trade authority before inauguration day.

In targeting our top three trading partners, Trump is signaling that he’s willing to go to extreme lengths to disrupt trade flows and upend U.S. trade commitments (some of which he negotiated). Data collected by the Census Bureau shows that so far this year, the U.S. has imported $632.3 billion in goods from Mexico and $572.9 billion in goods........

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