Trump is trying to get permanent trade war powers |
Trump is trying to get permanent trade war powers
On May 12, the Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court not to hear the case HMTX Industries v. U.S. The administration’s brief reveals a view of presidential tariff authority with almost no meaningful limiting principle.
The Supreme Court should take the case and make clear that Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act is not a blank check for perpetual tariff escalation.
The case dates to Trump’s first-term China tariffs. After a Section 301 investigation concluded that China’s intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer practices burdened U.S. commerce, the administration imposed tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports. China retaliated with tariffs of its own. Trump then responded with two more rounds of tariffs covering another $320 billion on Chinese goods.
American vinyl tile manufacturer HTMX challenged those later tariffs, arguing they were untethered from the original investigation and had evolved into “an unprecedented, unbounded and unlimited trade war.”
The Court of International Trade upheld the tariffs, famously saying it would “not try to unscramble this egg.” The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit did the same, but stressed that Section 301 grants “broad” but not unlimited, discretion.
The Justice Department now argues that the power to “modify” tariffs can include “larger changes or alterations” so long as they are not “radically transformative.” At first glance, that sounds like a meaningful limit on executive authority. But it’s not.
After all, the administration expanded tariffs from $50 billion to more than $300 billion. The scope of products exploded. The........