Tariffs

MSNBC -  President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs may not be long for this world. An 11-judge en banc panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit appeared deeply skeptical Thursday of the Trump administration's argument that it can use a congressional statute, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), to impose expansive tariffs.

You might be asking why we're talking about a statute when the Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the power to regulate interstate commerce, including the imposition of tariffs. It's because for almost a century, Congress has regularly ceded its authority to the president. But challengers in two separate cases, one brought by small businesses and another brought by 12 Democratic-led states, sued the Trump administration, arguing that the IEEPA doesn't give Trump the power to unilaterally impose these tariffs.

 The question of whether Congress gave the president power to impose tariffs via the IEEPA brings up important issues that could determine whether Trump can carry out his expansive plan.  Read the full column here.