6/6/2019

CONGRESS/MEXICO/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Congressional Republicans have suggested that they might join Democrats in pushing back against President Trump’s vow to use emergency powers to impose a sharp tax increase on Americans when they buy Mexican goods, unless and until the Mexican government does more to stop migrants from reaching and illegally crossing the American border. Mr. Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods would be his latest unorthodox use of standby authorities that Congress has delegated to the presidency for exigent circumstances, a set of unilateral powers he has been invoking with increasing aggression to bypass the legislative branch. It would be a change if significant numbers of congressional Republicans follow through on their vows to stand up to the president — and for the role of Congress as an equal branch of government — by voting to block his move, instead of acquiescing to it as they have before. But here is how they could if they so choose and what mechanisms the president can use to prevail.”

Charlie Savage, “The President’s ‘Emergency’ Tariffs on Mexican Goods, Explained,” The New York Times online, June 6, 2019