Trump’s Terrific Tariff Tirade Today

Letter to Romans: Whew. After the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against President Trump unilaterally wielding an unlimited “emergency” power to impose tariffs on any foreign country he deems necessary, it turns out he had plenty of legislatively authority to impose tariffs.

In fact, hardly had the Justice’s “terrible” majority opinion been published that No. 47 said he had imposed 10, then, 15% “global” tariffs under existing Congressional authorizations designed to combat unfair trade practices by foreign countries. While the WSJ conceded this “30% Solution” instead of Trump’s envisioned “100% deal-making leverage” policy was a little less than the whole loaf he always insisted he had to eat, the monies to still be collected aren’t Trump change. Meanwhile, the newspaper suggests many Republicans are “privately” breathing a little easier over fears the president’s unchecked & unpredictable tariff power was or would be driving up consumer prices as the mid-term elections neared. Moreover, it’s been reported Mr. Trump himself had been anticipating the tariff ruling, hence his rapid deployment of his “back up tariff Plan B.”

But George Washington U Prof Jonathan Turley may have best articulated the positive take on this tariff fight when he wrote: “It is important to note that the majority here was holding the line on what they view (correctly) as a core check & balance of Congress in control of the power of the purse. The vagueness of this authority & the sweeping use [of it] gave a majority of the Justices great pause in how it would impact the balance of the branches.” Besides, Chief Justice Roberts’ majority opinion did not say whether or how Trump had to give any of the billions already collected; and he found a new “hero” on the High Court in Justice Kavanaugh who had voted in favor of his global tariff power approach.

Davd Soul