The circus clown
Elect a clown, expect a circus.
Ron Hall
Moscow
Matters of trade
The Biden administration has escalated the Ukraine War in hopes of leaving a mess for Donald Trump.
It makes one nostalgic for the days when vengeful outgoing administrations just put glue on drawers and stole letters from keyboards.
Joe Biden also rushed to hand $8 billion in tax (and borrowed) money to Intel which is losing market share to other U.S.-based competitors. That money was earmarked under the Tribune-supported CHIPS and Science Act which has certainly failed to protect Intel.
However, Mr. Trump will not help the situation with his fantasy solution: imposing tariffs so high foreign tech companies will move here.
In “Constitution and Trade Policies” Ms. Eleanor Stratton reminds us that matters of trade, including imposing tariffs, is a Congressional power. She also notes the two main 20th century acts by which Congress ceded some control of trade to the Executive Branch (bit.ly/3Op7RpF).
As Tevye observes in “Fiddler on the Roof,” “One little time you pull out a prop and where does it stop?”
We’ve reached the point where an incoming president can impose punitive tariffs on Day One — will Congress, nil Congress.
Such was never the intent of the aforementioned acts but it’s perfectly in keeping with the Constitutional nightmare that is the ever-increasing predominance of “pen and phone” presidencies.
Reminder: Tariffs are, effectively, a price-increasing tax consumers pay. They damage international relationships and don’t achieve their desired ends. Congress needs to reassert its authority over trade and reign in the Executive.
We can but hope.
Thomas A. Hennigan
Asotin
