Presidential Authority To Unilaterally Raise Tariffs

Introduction

President-elect Donald Trump has made several recent statements concerning his intention to exercise his authority as President to raise tariffs unilaterally on goods from China, from Mexico and Canada (Washinton Post, 11/26/24), and from all countries (unilateral 10% tariff on everyone and everything – Associate Press, 11/26/24). Tariffs are customs duties or fees that are imposed on goods entering into commerce in the U.S. The U.S. has some of the lowest average tariffs of any country in the world, averaging in 2016 about "1.61%; that was about the same as the average rate of 1.6% for the 28-nation EU, and not much higher than Japan's 1.35%. Among other major U.S. trading partners, Canada's average applied tariff rate was 0.85%, China's was 3.54% and Mexico's was 4.36%." (Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/03/22/u-s-tariffs-are-among-the-lowest-in-the-world-and-in-the-nations-history/).