Court of International Trade Rules for American Businesses and the Constitution
AAF applauds the decision of the United States Court of International Trade’s decision striking down the President’s Section 122 tariffs in Burlap and Barrel v. Trump. Immediately after the Supreme Court struck down the President’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, he imposed tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 which allows the President to impose tariffs to address “large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits.” However, as we argued in our amicus brief, thanks to changes in the international monetary system, no such balance-of-payments problems possible today. The Court’s decision protects the plaintiffs from the harms of the President’s illegal tariffs but millions of Americans are still paying higher prices because of them.
“As the Court of International Trade correctly explained, if it had upheld the President’s reading of Section 122, it would have raised a constitutional Nondelegation Doctrine issue because Article I, Section 8, clause 1 of the Constitution vests in Congress alone the power to tax, including the power to impose tariffs,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “No president should be able to exercise powers reserved to Congress on a whim and we urge both Congress and the courts to clarify the limits of the President’s power.”