The legal grounding of Donald Trump’s wild imposition of tariffs here, there and everywhere since his ludicrous April 2 “Liberation Day” was based on a weak reading of a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But even the most permissive interpretation of the law doesn’t give the president the power to use trade levies to engage in purely personal vendettas and extortion.
And extortion is the best word for what Trump is doing with his threats to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, saying he’ll impose a 50% tariff on goods from South America’s largest nation.
It’s not about trade or the economy but the ongoing prosecution of former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, effectively trying to order Lula to suspend this effort — which is rooted in evidence that Bolsonaro attempted to overturn the results of a fair election, something Trump certainly sympathizes with — in exchange for stopping the tariffs. Lula, calling Trump an “emperor,” did the right thing in telling the U.S. president to get lost.
So now Trump wants to meddle in the domestic affairs in Brazil, all in service to protecting one of his contemporaries in the global far right movement. He is of course no stranger to misusing his authority to try to strong-arm other countries into favorable political outcomes; Trump’s first impeachment, which seems like decades ago now, centered on his efforts to block military aid to Ukraine until that country dug up dirt on rival Joe Biden.
But for Trump, this is a one-way road, as he is also often irate about the specter of other countries interfering in American politics, frequently seizing on lurid accounts from his favorite right-wing cable outlets to suggest that other nations are trying to do more or less exactly what he’s openly trying to do to Brazil.
After careful consideration, the federal Court of International Trade, based in Manhattan, ruled on May 28 that Trump had exceeded his authority with the tariffs and ordered them lifted. That decision has been stayed while the appeals court reviews it, with oral arguments set for July 31.
But we don’t think anywhere in the administration’s legal papers do they claim that the president can impose tariffs as political favors or punishments for out of power foreign leaders facing prosecution for abuse of office. How is that a national economic emergency?
Trump’s insistence that the U.S. must have net zero or trade surplus with every other country in the world in order to ensure economic prosperity is nonsensical, but at least it is consistent. The problem in this instance is the U.S. does not, however, have any trade deficit with Brazil to “fix,” which leaves only the extortion angle as the reason for Trump to pursue these tariffs.
And yet somehow, he can still supersede Congress for that purpose?
Once again, as in so many other areas, the Republican Congress lies back and lets Trump trample on the rights of the legislature, with the public having to rely on the independent courts to put Trump in his place.
Until those courts finally set aside Trump’s crazy tariffs, he’ll continue to reshape global trade and massively impact the U.S. economy, with ruinous effects on the nation’s businesses and consumers. But now he’s even torpedoed his own administration’s legal argument.
He’s just come out and said it: he’s treating these tariffs as an extension of a foreign policy that he’s determining day to day without rhyme or reason. That is not a valid reason to snatch away Congress’ powers, and the courts have a duty to say so.
