Trump wants more tariff powers. So does Congress

President Trump used the State of the Union to call on Congress to grant him more power on tariffs by passing the United States Reciprocal Trade Act:

Tonight, I am also asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the same product that they sell to us.

But handing the president more powers to levy taxes will not promote free trade or make America more prosperous. As Trump has demonstrated, those powers can and will be used to pick fights with allies and to start trade wars, and they will be exercised at the expense of the U.S. economy.