The president is relying on a provision that the government’s lawyers said had no “obvious application” to his goal of reducing the trade deficit.
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Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not empower the president to impose tariffs, the Trump administration invoked one of several statutes that do explicitly authorize import taxes: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. In a proclamation issued on Friday, President Donald Trump relied on that provision to impose “a temporary import surcharge of 10 percent.” In a Truth Social post the next day, he raised that “surcharge” to 15 percent, the maximum rate allowed by Section 122.
TheofficialrationaleforthisuseofSection122contradictsthepositionthatthegovernment’slawyerstookwhiledefendingTrump’sinterpretationofIEEPA.BeforetheSupremeCourtrejectedhisreadingofthatlawinLearningResourcesv.Trump,theadministrationarguedthatSection122wasaninadequatesubstitutebecauseitaddressedjustoneaspectoftheconcernsthatledTrumptodeclarea“nationalem
