Trump's new tariffs are just as questionable as his previous ones

<p>When you start with a predetermined policy and then go looking for a legal pretext to justify it, you are building on shaky ground. President Donald Trump illustrated that point once again last week, when he <a class="Link" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/07/actions-by-the-united-states-in-the-investigations-under-section-301-of-the-trade-act-of-1974-of-the-acts-policies-and-practices-of-60-economies-related-to-the-failure-of-each-economy-to-impose-and/" target="_blank" >announced</a> a third round of broad tariffs after his first two attempts were rejected by federal courts.</p><p>Shortly after taking office last year, Trump claimed to have discovered a previously unnoticed delegation of tariff authority in the <a class="Link" href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/chapter-35" target="_blank" >International Emergency Economic Powers Act</a>, a 1977 law that does not mention import taxes and had never been used to impose them.