WASHINGTON, June 3 -- U.S. scholars and business groups have questioned the legality of President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs on imports of Mexican goods due to immigration concerns.
Trump said on Thursday that he would impose a 5-percent tariff on all imported Mexican goods beginning June 10 so as to pressure the country to halt undocumented migrants crossing the border, and will gradually increase tariffs until the problem is remedied.
The uNPRecedented move, citing the president's authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977, immediately drew wide-ranging criticism from politicians, scholars and business leaders across the country.
"Trade policy and border security are separate issues," Republican senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Thursday in a statement. "This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent."
Jennifer Hillman, a professor of practice at the Georgetown Law Center, believed that the U.S. president could impose tariffs only in cases where Congress has "clearly delegated" the power to do so.
"I don't read IEEPA as a clear delegation of power to impose tariffs. Probably why no President has ever used IEEPA to impose tariffs," Hillman wrote on Twitter.
Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the purpose of IEEPA was to give the president tools to impose economic sanctions on America's enemies and adversaries in the face of "unusual and extraordinary threats."
"It was never intended to give the president carte blanche authority to impose tariffs on close allies," Alden wrote in a blog post on Friday, noting that using IEEPA to justify tariffs is "a flagrant abuse of the congressional statute."
"If the Congress lets Trump get away with this, he will be free to slap tariffs on any country or any product at any time for whatever reason he dreams up," he argued, adding that the president's decision to link trade to immigration and refugee concerns is an "especially dangerous escalation."
Markets will realize that it's not likely for the U.S. president to deliver a trade deal with its trade partners if tariffs can be raised by "unilateral presidential decree," linked to border policy not the economic relationship, said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Analysts and lawmakers have also argued that the proposed tariffs on Mexican goods could violate the rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and World Trade Organization (WTO).
"This decision also threatens to upend 25 years of duty-free treatment for products that cross the U.S.-Mexico border, and violates longstanding American commitments under NAFTA and at the World Trade Organization," Republican Senator Pat Toomey of the state of Pennsylvania said in a statement.
"The president's use of tax hikes on Americans as a tool to affect change in Mexican policy is misguided. It is past time for Congress to step up and reassert its Constitutional responsibility on tariffs," Toomey said.
"If the Republican Senate Majority does not show backbone in standing up to President Trump on this abuse, and if it lets stand the administration's usurpation of Congressional prerogatives in the trade and foreign policy areas, that alone will reinforce the markets' correct perception that the world has become too uncertain for many investments," Posen noted.
Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was exploring legal options to challenge U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods.
"We have no choice but to pursue every option available to push back," Bradley said, adding that these tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border.
Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a national campaign comprised of over 150 of America's largest trade organizations from across retail, tech, manufacturing and agriculture, also blasted the president's tariff decision.
"Using tariffs to address unrelated policy objectives sets a dangerous precedent while creating significant uncertainty for American employers who are living tweet-by-tweet while trying to plan their business," the groups said in a statement.
奥巴马白宫晚宴开涮自己引爆全场
法国皮诺家族捐赠圆明园流失鼠首兔首 有望下半年回家
英国拟发行丘吉尔头像英镑纸币
2013年美国什么工作最爽? 最好工种出炉
五一假期大采购:应该在打折时买的5件东西
Score and Ability 成绩和能力
改变自己才最重要:10种简单方法建立自信
马上开学了,如何让各年龄段的孩子做好准备?
早起新武器:分段睡眠助你工作生活更高效
英国央行:丘吉尔肖像将登新版英镑
10个日常好习惯 让你的生活变得更简单
假期旅游指南:10招教你无压力轻松旅行
雅加达“不堪重负” 印尼总统决定迁都
2013韩国小姐候选人遭吐槽:整容流水线“长得都一样”
呼吸雾霾会加快动脉硬化引发中风
阿里巴巴值多少钱:如果上市,值一千亿美元
美国黑帮老大监狱称王 4名女狱警为其生5个儿女
3D打印枪支势不可挡 如何应对成难题
义务与责任: 中国科学家率先查明H7N9病毒来源
宠爱自己,约会自己:你需要对自己好一点
2013福布斯中国名人榜:范冰冰登顶 周杰伦第二
Costco上海门店开业首日 半天就被买到停业
维珍航空推出机舱交友服务
世界简单化之旅: 当简单成为解决之道
职场性别: 职业女性升职难的真正原因
女性面临新的保健深坑!
《钢铁侠3》迎合中国观众范冰冰特供影迷
苹果产品研发链空期近一年, 外部压力倍增
南京理工大学一实验室发生爆炸 造成1人死亡3人受伤
头疼亦幸福: 哄孩子职业初显商业模式
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |