Trump Is Using a Trade Law Relic to Illegally Punish Canada

A new lawsuit challenges the administration’s tariff war against an ally. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. Courts have already ruled against two avenues President Donald Trump used to impose this tariff regime. That hasn’t stopped his efforts to attempt to deploy obscure or outdated trade law provisions to justify new import levies. His latest tool is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the notorious legislation that gravely exacerbated the Great Depression. Want to see more of The Dispatch in Google search? Add Us as a Preferred Source Ilya Somin is a visiting professor of law at the University of Virginia, professor of law at George Mason University, the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, and author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration and Political Freedom. Together with the Liberty Justice Center and others, he was co-counsel in VOS Selections v. Trump, one of the tariff cases decided by the Supreme Court. More on Trump’s Trade War