Since retaking office, one of President Donald Trump’s most destructive economic policies has been his needless and haphazard tariff war against key U.S. trading partners. Though the president has backpedaled from the worst of his tariff threats — what critics call TACO, or “Trump always chickens out” — the ultimate cowardice lies in what is meant to be the most powerful branch of government: Congress.
Trump, despite his dubious legal claims to the contrary, does not have an inherent unilateral authority to impose tariffs. That power lies with Congress — a power, vested in the American people, that our elected representatives have chosen to abdicate.
This is not just our stance. In May, as reported by The Associated Press, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Trump administration’s legal basis for executive tariff powers, ruled that Trump has overstepped his authority by invoking that legislation.
(It should be noted that the courts have allowed Trump to continue his tariffs, pending appeal of this ruling by the Trump administration.)
Simply put, the only reason Trump can wreak havoc on the global economy is because Republicans in Congress let him.