Mike Pence Wants Congress To Take 'Immediate Steps' To Reclaim Constitutional Power On Tariffs, Says Trump 'Has No Authority...'

Former Vice President Mike Pence reminded lawmakers that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, and not the president, authority to levy tariffs.

What Happened: Pence took to X to urge Capitol Hill to "take immediate steps to reclaim their constitutional authority on tariffs," implicitly challenging President Donald Trump's push for blanket levies of up to 10 percent on all imports and as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods.

Pence wrote that the president "has no authority in the Constitution to unilaterally impose tariffs without an act of Congress" and that lawmakers must "restore the power to levy tariffs back to the American people." He hyperlinked a National Review column from April, where he warned that delegating trade powers "violates the founders' intent."

Backing up Pence’s call, Article I of the Constitution does vest the tariff and tax power squarely in Congress, though lawmakers have long ceded flexibility to the White House through statutes such as Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act and Section 301 of the Trade Act. Legal scholars note that the courts have usually upheld those delegations, but according to a Reuters report, pressure is rising after a string of rulings that trimmed Trump's use of emergency powers to tax imports.

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Why It Matters: The Federal Court's decision to strike down Trump‘s tariffs, however, could have a broad effect on the economy, stock market and individual companies, which were starting to settle with the idea of higher duties. However, as things stand, an appellate court has granted the Trump administration a temporary stay of a lower-court ruling that invalidated most of the President's tariffs.

Pence isn’t the only former Trump administrator with a say on Trump’s current trade policies. Former White House adviser Larry Kudlow asserts that the United States is "China's best customer," but economist Peter Schiff counters that ballooning U.S. debt lets Beijing finance American consumption.

Goldman Sachs economist Alec Phillips suggested Thursday that the Trump administration could shift its focus to sector-specific tariffs, which Section 232 of the Constitution firmly supports.

Photo Courtesy: Gino Santa Maria on Shutterstock.com

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