AP — With a trio of executive orders, President Donald Trump has almost instantly thrown the world economy and his own goal of cutting inflation into turmoil. His tariffs against Canada and Mexico in order to stop illegal immigration and the illicit fentanyl trade led to retaliatory taxes by both countries on U.
But on a deeper level, Trump suddenly hit the U. This is the law that helped enable Trump to declare an economic emergency in the executive orders and implement his tariffs. There are more than three dozen active emergencies, including measures taken to respond to the Iran hostage crisis, human rights violations in Venezuela, nuclear weapon development in North Korea and multiple actions taken by China and Russia.
Energy products were taxed at a lower level to prevent U. While Trump has said that foreigners pay these taxes, the tariffs would be paid by the individuals and companies bringing in the goods — which means this would be a domestic tax increase.
Not everyone will agree with his reasoning, as U. Those are the stated legal reasons, but Trump has expressed a deep admiration to tariffs in general, claiming that they would make the United States wealthier even though they are tax hikes that can be passed along to consumers and businesses in the form of higher prices.
The orders are very clear that the U. It would still be the U. This is an important clause in the orders. That exclusion would no longer apply to products imported from Canada, Mexico and China. It would require a new law that Trump would have to sign, which seems unlikely based on his statements.
