Tariffs Are Like a Knife in a Gunfight
The laws that let Trump impose duties unilaterally were made for an era when the U.S. dominated trade.
Though Donald Trump defends his deployment of tariffs as a radical shake-up of world trade, he is using a dusty playbook. While the president certainly has the legal authority to impose duties, the statutes on which his administration relies are perilously out of date. They are based an economic order that no longer exists.
Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act and Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act serve as the basis for tariffs on more than $250 billion of Chinese imports, as well as duties levied earlier this year on...