Where are the Conservatives on Trump's Tariffs?

[InTheLight]

The US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8

The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.

So if Congress is supposed to have the power to levy tariffs why are no conservatives quoting the Constitution and challenging Trump's tariffs via executive orders?

 

[777]

No, Light, people have been asking this question for decades -

President Trump & Tariffs: Congress Gave the President the Power to Level Them | National Review

I know you're quite a history buff but his argument seems to be that the POTUS does it because Congress won't do it.

 

[InTheLight]

No, Light, people have been asking this question for decades -

President Trump & Tariffs: Congress Gave the President the Power to Level Them | National Review

I know you're quite a history buff but his argument seems to be that the POTUS does it because Congress won't do it.

That's a good argument.

I thought Trump's angle was some law passed in the early 60's that empowered the President to levy tariffs if it was a matter of national security. In the last week or so we've heard the argument about "only one aluminum foundry that makes pure enough aluminum for building our fighter jets", so I figured he was using the national security argument.

But if he is, I don't see what slapping a tariff on Chinese washing machines has to do with national security!

 

[777]

Well, he is using that JFK-era law:

Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Commerce

I don't see what all this has to do with national security, either, can all aluminum be used in military weapons? Congress back then handed the POTUS power to tariff again:

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-76/pdf/STATUTE-76-Pg872.pdf

even though it is supposed to be THEIR job, not Trump's.

 

[InTheLight]

Well, he is using that JFK-era law:

Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Commerce

I don't see what all this has to do with national security, either, can all aluminum be used in military weapons? Congress back then handed the POTUS power to tariff again:

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-76/pdf/STATUTE-76-Pg872.pdf

even though it is supposed to be THEIR job, not Trump's.

Thanks for posting this. Thirty-two pages for the 1962 law. Whew.

Did you see item (3) in the rationale for the Trade Expansion Act of 1962?

(3) to prevent Communist economic penetration
!

 

[777]

One of the big hopes of the free traders was that if the US and other countries engaged in free trade with China, it would help free up the entire country, but that never happened, they are still an oppressive, totalitarian state.

When did all this start? Probably with Nixon back in the seventies but then under Carter, China first got MFN status and Reagan and GHWB were big free traders and let it ride. Then Clinton promised to revoke MFN after what happened in Beijing but later broke that promise (remarks are insightful):

https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal96-1092700

but it was this EO: https://www.archives.gov/files/federal-register/executive-orders/pdf/12850.pdf

by Clinton and the ramifications:

How Bill Clinton Sent Manufacturing Jobs to China

that put this idea to rest. Of course, MFN went permanent under GWB and Obama did nothing so now the mess is a bigger mess.

 

[church mouse guy]

I myself figure that Trump is trying to protect the military-industrial complex and also trying to get people such as the Europeans to remove their tariffs on American goods. I think that Gerald Ford was the last President to have a favorable trade balance.

 

[Calminian]

True conservatives are against all tariffs, foreign and domestic. For years the US has been willing to put up with tariffs from others and not retaliate. That's the RINO view of free trade. The conservative view is free trade both ways.

Trump, putting tariffs on the table, might actually be able to convince other countries into dropping their tariffs.