Trump's Brazil Tariff Is Blatantly Illegal

Shouldn't someone be suing?

I wrote the other day about Trump’s Brazil tariff, which is, as I said, evil and megalomaniacal. But I forgot to point out that it’s blatantly illegal. Maybe — probably — the Supreme Court is so corrupt at this point that it will ratify anything Trump does. But can’t we at least put them on the spot? Can’t we force Scott Bessent to explain why he supports such a grotesque abuse of presidential power?

Let’s be clear: U.S. law does give the executive branch a lot of discretion to impose tariffs without additional legislation. It does this for a reason: Temporary tariffs were intended to serve as a political pressure-release valve that would make low tariffs emerging from international agreements sustainable. This worked well as long as we had responsible presidents; it has been a disaster under Trump. Still, he does have a lot of legal authority to set tariffs.

But that authority is by no means open-ended. Tariffs can be imposed only for specific reasons:

Section 201: Market disruption Basically, if a sudden import surge puts a U.S. industry in danger, temporary tariffs can be imposed to give the industry time to adapt

Section 232: National security Tariffs can be used to sustain industries we might need during international confrontations

Section 301: Unfair practices Tariffs can be used to offset, say, foreign export subsidies

Anti-dumping duties Tariffs can be imposed when foreign companies are selling below cost

International Economic Emergency The president has broad tariff-setting powers during an economic crisis

Trump has hugely abused all these justifications, especially the last. There is no economic emergency. According to Trump himself, things are great:

But the Brazil tariff is somethjng else: It’s not about economics at all, it’s an attempt to interfere with another country’s politics. Who says so? Trump. Here, again, is how his letter to Lula begins:

That letter is basically a confession that he is imposing a tariff for non-economic reasons. And that’s not legally allowed.

Memo to mainstream media: No, Trump isn’t “testing the limits of his authority” or some other euphemism. He’s breaking the law. Period. And it should be reported that way.