President Trump’s recent announcement of sweeping tariffs on imported steel and aluminum is bad economic and foreign policy, but even more seriously it tramples over the intentions of Congress and the separation of powers in the Constitution. Our trade policy framework was simply not designed to work with a president who has gone rogue on trade against the national interest.
Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution delegates to Congress sole authority “to regulate commerce with foreign nations.” Yet in this latest trade drama, Congress has been relegated to a passive role as the president abuses the intent of U.S. trade law to impose steep tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of imports. Congress must reclaim its rightful authority over trade policy before more damage can be done — to our economy, our standing in the world, and our constitutional system of government.
Congress has delegated authority to the executive branch over the decades to impose certain duties under certain conditions. The steel and aluminum tariffs were imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, a Cold-War-era provision that was intended to allow the president to curb imports that “threaten to impair the national security.”
In this case, “national security” was only a smokescreen for the Trump administration to protect the politically connected steel industry from normal foreign competition. The move was opposed by the U.S. defense establishment, which only consumes about 3 percent of annual U.S. steel production. Most of the imports affected by the tariffs are produced by our close allies, including Japan, South Korea, and the NATO countries in Europe.
Section 232 and other administrative trade laws were predicated on a responsible chief executive who would act in a way that represents the national interest. Practically speaking, presidents have almost always been more pro-trade than Congress, since the president answers to a national constituency while congressmen and senators represent more parochial interests. But now, perhaps for the first time in American history, Congress is confronted with a president determined to impose his own protectionist agenda independent of the legislative branch.
In the face of this constitutional challenge, Congressional leaders should move quickly to negate the steel and aluminum tariffs announced by President Trump. Such action would protect the economic interests of the United States while also guarding the clear constitutional authority of Congress to determine U.S. trade policy.
Just as importantly, Congress should require congressional approval for any future tariffs or other trade restrictions the president may seek to impose on American consumers and downstream industries. The president could still recommend tariffs under Section 232 or other administrative trade laws, but Congress would retain the ultimate authority to approve or disapprove, as the Constitution intended.
During his speech announcing the tariffs, President Trump further threatened to impose “reciprocal taxes” on our trading partners. If another country imposes a 50 percent tariff on cars or motorcycles exported from the United States, for example, the United States will impose a “mirror tax” of the same rate on the same type of products we import from the other country. Tellingly, the president said nothing about seeking legislation from Congress.
Such a reciprocal tariff approach would blow up nearly a century of established U.S. trade policy and would exponentially complicate U.S. trade relations. It would violate policy established by Congress in 1922 and enshrined in our international trade agreements that commits the United States to “unconditional most-favored nation status” in our trade relations. Under this policy, the United States applies a uniform tariff rate on each import category no matter where the products originate, with the reciprocal guarantee that U.S. exporters will be on an equal footing with competing exporters in other countries.
For decades after World War II, U.S. trade policy was a bipartisan effort, with both major parties working together in Congress and with presidents of either party to expand the freedom of Americans to trade and engage in business with people around the world. Republicans have been integral to this effort. Every major free-trade agreement the United States has joined in the past 30 years, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, was negotiated by Republican presidents and approved with strong GOP support in Congress.
The result has been a reduction of trade barriers worldwide, rewarding both American consumers and producers with lower-priced imports, and American exporters with greater access to global markets. The world has become a more prosperous, peaceful, and hospitable place because of this bipartisan policy.
Congress cannot stand idly by while this trade policy achievement is dismantled by presidential decree.
Daniel Griswold is a senior research fellow and co-director of the Program on the American Economy and Globalization at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
