Limits Of IEEPA's Designation Authority

Over the first 100 days and beyond, the Trump Administration has deployed national security authorities in novel ways. Perhaps most notably, President Trump has asserted authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. §§1701 et seq., to declare the trade deficit a national emergency and impose substantial tariffs on a wide array of US trading partners.¹ Moreover, he has directed the Secretary of State to designate certain international drug cartels as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) under IEEPA and as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Administration has also reportedly considered relying on a combination of authorities, potentially to include IEEPA and other national security authorities, to target the domestic and overseas activities of US-based nonprofits. Doing so could stretch these authorities even further than the Trump Administration has done to date.