Trump’s Brazil Tariff Is Blatantly Illegal

Paul Krugman: “Let’s be clear: U.S. law does give the executive branch a lot of discretion to impose tariffs without additional legislation. It does this for a reason: Temporary tariffs were intended to serve as a political pressure-release valve that would make low tariffs emerging from international agreements sustainable. This worked well as long as we had responsible presidents; it has been a disaster under Trump. Still, he does have a lot of legal authority to set tariffs.”

“But that authority is by no means open-ended. Tariffs can be imposed only for specific reasons… Trump has hugely abused all these justifications, especially the last. There is no economic emergency.” 

For members: Trump Acts Like He’s Above the Law, Because He Mostly Is