Trump vs. Mexico
Democrats gave presidents the power to wage tariff wars
President Donald Trump’s announcement that he intends to impose tariffs on Mexico unless it works with the U.S. to stanch the flow of illegal immigrants across the border raised hackles all over Washington.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said he’d impose 5% tariffs on all Mexican goods starting next week. He said they’d climb to 25% if Mexico didn’t step in to halt illegal border crossings.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., decried it as a “stunt.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called it a “misuse of presidential tariff authority.” Rep. Nydia Velazquez, DN.Y., who heads the House Small Business Committee, complained the president “has yet again failed to understand — increasing tariffs means placing unnecessary taxes on the backs of American workers and small businesses.”
Leave aside that Mr. Trump’s aggressive move appears to have had its intended effect. Soon after his announcement, Mexico dispatched a delegation to start border-control talks.
Critics of the tariff threat are right that tariffs are little more than taxes on imported goods paid for by consumers in higher prices. And many are calling to rein in the president’s seemingly boundless ability to impose tariffs. But what Mr. Trump’s critics never mention is the fact that all of the legislation that gives Mr. Trump the authority to wage trade wars was passed by Democrats.
Shortly before the 2016 election, economist Gary Hufbauer looked into whether Mr. Trump could make good on his tariff threats should he be elected.
“The short answer, at least in the short term, is ‘yes,’ both because of the president’s constitutional power over foreign affairs and because multiple statutes enacted by Congress over the past century authorize the president to impose tariffs or quotas on imports and regulate foreign commerce in other ways as well.”
Mr. Trump has taken full use of these powers.
He justified his tariffs on steel and aluminum imports by citing a national security threat under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. In 1962, Democrats controlled the House with a 262-175 majority. They controlled the Senate by a 64-36 margin. Democratic President John F. Kennedy signed the bill into law.
Mr. Trump used a provision of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, citing China trade violations and “burdening” of U.S. commerce. The Congress that approved this bill was dominated by Democrats, who controlled the Senate 56-42 and the House 242-192. President Gerald Ford, a Republican, signed it into law.
In making his most recent threat against Mexico, Mr. Trump cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 as giving him authority to do so. That law lets the president impose tariffs during a national emergency, which is what Mr. Trump has declared on the nation’s border. Again, Democrats dominated the House and Senate at the time, and the legislation was signed by President Jimmy Carter.
Trade isn’t the only area where congressional Democrats have emboldened the president at their own expense. During the Barack Obama administration, Democrats gleefully handed the executive branch more authority and turned a blind eye to Mr. Obama’s abuses.
Of course, Republicans have ignored abuses in the past, too. But now, it’s Republicans leading the effort to pull back some of the president’s ability to unilaterally declare trade wars without congressional input.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., introduced a bill with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., that would more tightly define national security and require congressional approval for tariff hikes to take effect. Mr. Grassley is drafting a similar bill.
In the House, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., introduced legislation that would impose similar restrictions. Americans for Prosperity, a group supported by the libertarian Koch network, even offered to help Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pass the legislation.
Needless to say, she didn’t embrace the offer. Mr. Gallagher’s bill remains stuck in the Democrat-controlled House Ways and Means Committee.