Trumps' Tariffs.Let's have a look...

Tonight is Trumps’ first speech in his second term. It’s not a State of the Union speech as he has only been in office two months. He has a couple of topics on which discussion is  widely anticipated, such as tariffs and immigration. But, Trump being Trump will bang his gong on just about everything he has touched. 

I have mixed feelings about his tariff philosophy, in general I dont expect it to be the miracle cure he touts it to be. Sometimes, actually often times I’m not sure Trump understands a lot of things. Through all the bluff and blunder he convinces a lot of people that he knows a lot more than he really does. Even though he concedes that there will be ‘a little pain’ initially with the tariffs, I think he is greatly underestimating the pain. He won’t feel it, but an awful lot of Americans will. On the other hand there is much potential and rationale for tariffs. America has long been taken advantage of by our trading partners. There is little doubt about that. For instance, China dumping cheap goods here for decades, including infrastructure critical goods such as steel. Forcing American suppliers to lower prices to the point of being nonprofitable. Which of course eliminates American jobs. So there are some very deserving targets for tariffs that should have been placed long ago. As for for tariffs across the board, I dont think so. Consider housing costs in the US right now. Slapping tariffs on Canadian lumber imports will only add to the costs of housing pushing them even further into the unaffordable range. Inflation is bad, unaffordable housing is terrible. During your campaign you touted ‘common sense’ Donald. Use it. 

I also agree that Trump is pushing the envelope on invoking legislative authority in the executive branch. There is a fine line here that is being stomped on. Our constitution is clear on maintaining separation of power. The power to enact laws rests purely with the legislative branch. Though allowances have been made which enable the president to enact laws on an emergency basis. These executive orders enacting the tariffs are possible through a law passed by Congress called the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act). If not for IEEPA, tariffs could only be imposed by Congress. Are these tariffs necessary as an emergency action? That would be a difficult position to defend. Congress could override these executive orders, but at the risk of defying the president... At present it would be hard to find volunteers for that.

We are putting both executive and legislative power in one persons’ hands by allowing this. In the long run it could be beneficial for the country. Or, it may not. If the latter turns out to be the case, is Congress willing to take the bull by the horns, and take this specified legislative power away from the president? This is precisely what our framers feared, too much power in one persons’ hands. Checks and balances and separation of power...

#tariffs  #trumptariffs #executiveoverreach #constitutionalcrisis