Lawmakers Need to Get Back Into the Game on Trade

Wall Street Journal

05-06-2025

In an unambiguous and unanimous ruling, the U.S. Court of International Trade held that President Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs' and fentanyl tariff actions exceeded his constitutional and statutory authority. We believe the ruling will stand up under Supreme Court review. While chronic trade imbalances remain, the administration now must deploy other trade strategies and authorities to address global overreliance on the U.S. to support the longstanding economic order. Congress can help by reclaiming its Constitutional authority to direct trade.
The trade court's ruling states that the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, can't authorize sweeping tariffs without violating what is known as the nondelegation doctrine. A three-judge panel ruled that IEEPA doesn't grant unlimited, unreviewable authority for the president to declare national emergencies unilaterally or impose tariffs arbitrarily. The ruling cited foundational Supreme Court cases such as Youngstown Sheet&Tube v. Sawyer, as well as more recent decisions such as Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, on improper delegation of authority from Congress to the executive branch. The court also invoked the 'major questions doctrine' of the Roberts court as part of the argument against Mr. Trump's claim of broad trade authority.
In its argument before the trade court, the administration heavily relied on U.S. v. Yoshida International, a 1974 Supreme Court decision that upheld President Nixon's brief imposition of a 10% across-the-board tariff aimed at addressing a trade deficit spike. But that reliance ultimately undermines the administration's case for three key reasons.
First, Yoshida involved presidential authority under the Trading with the Enemy Act, a statute that was later expressly amended to curtail executive power. Second, the Yoshida opinion emphasized the narrow and temporary scope of Nixon's tariffs, which stands in contrast to Mr. Trump's broader measures. Finally, following Nixon's actions, Congress enacted Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, granting the president more narrowly defined authority to respond to trade imbalances.