Does a President have the power to impose tariffs?

Trump is declaring a trade war on penguins (for real). He has no such authority.

Thanks for reading my newsletter separating reality from bullshit in pop culture. Political topics are not ones that I am fond of; but we follow the bullshit here. Today is a zinger. If you value this content, please consider making it a two-way street and becoming a paid subscriber.

The latest target of Trump’s tariff attack on the world economy: A territory inhabited only by penguins.

As is being widely reported this morning, two of the nation territories Trump has imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on are British Indian Ocean Territory and Heard and McDonald Islands. Trump claims they both impose 10% tariffs on the United States.

The only humans in British Indian Ocean Territory are American and British soldiers on Diego Garcia Island. There are no humans at all in Heard and McDonald Islands, only penguins. Trump is declaring a trade war on penguins, and calling it “reciprocal.”

So one wonders: Can a US President (lunatic or otherwise) arbitrarily impose tariffs? Is that within his power? Is there no adult supervision?

Yes, there is, but they don’t seem to be doing much supervising. None of Trump’s tariffs are legal, because only Congress has authority to impose tariffs, as laid out in the Constitution, Article I, Section 8. There are a few exceptions, but none of them apply here:

• Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962: This allows the President to impose tariffs if imports are deemed a threat to national security. There currently is no such threat.

• Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974: This permits tariffs if the U.S. International Trade Commission determines that import surges harm domestic industries. No such determination has been made.

• Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974: This authorizes the President to impose tariffs of up to 15% for a maximum of 150 days in certain circumstances. None of that is the case here.

• There are a few others as well, but they don’t apply either.

What the White House is claiming is that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 applies. It most certainly does not. Here are the two basic reasons: