Breitbart Business Digest: Why Trump's Tariff Power Should Win in the Courts

Tariffs Are Trade Regulation

A federal judge in Washington recently ruled that the president cannot impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) . The decision, handed down in Learning Resources v. Trump , claims that while IEEPA lets the president “regulate importation,” it doesn’t go far enough because it doesn’t use specific words like “tariffs,” “duties,” or “taxes.” Unless Congress spells it out, the court held, the president may block or prohibit imports, but not charge a fee on them.

That distinction is now under serious challenge from a well-placed source: Chad Squitieri , a professor at Catholic University and a former clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing in the latest issue of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. The journal, lo