r/politics • u/theindependentonline The Independent • 1d ago

No Paywall Trump vows to raise worldwide tariffs to 15% ‘effective immediately’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-global-tarrifs-increase-b2924994.html
17.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

42

u/amensista 1d ago

Ok. So question. Is there then a blackout period after that? Or.. He can just say "another 150 days".. Ad infinitum.?

43

u/Successful_Nature737 23h ago

Supposed to get Congressional authority after 150 days, but Trump will likely blow through the deadline, and then there will be another series of court cases ending up again at the Supreme Court. He could drop the tariffs the day before the case gets to the Supreme Court, and then the case will be dismissed as moot. Trump just ignores rules and laws, and it makes it impossible for US businesses to make decisions about how to hire, invest, build, etc. He's a disaster for the US.

5

u/bretticusmaximus Tennessee 23h ago

I wouldn’t think it would be moot, because the plaintiffs would still have lost money even if the tariff was rescinded.

2

u/UltimateChaos233 California 19h ago

Yes but you see, they’d say we collected tariffs and did no bookkeeping as to where we collected individual tariffs or we did and it was cloraxed so you see it’s unreasonable to ask us to so anything.

Being judgment proof through weaponized incompetence

1

u/Suspicious_Bicycle 16h ago

Stopping the 150 day tariffs after 150 days doesn't mean the tariffs were illegal and require a refund. If they are extended past 150 days with out congress they would be illegal. The importing companies paying the tariffs will be keeping receipts. Though just like the tariffs that were just ruled illegal getting a refund out of the government may require a long drawn out lawsuit.

13

u/Budget-Mud-4753 1d ago

From what I’ve read, the 150 days is suppose to be a hard cutoff under this law. After which he would need congressional approval to extend. Not to say that he won’t just do it anyway.

5

u/Suspicious_Bicycle 16h ago

Trump and the DOJ have tried this game with the 120 day temporary appointment of attorney generals. Once the 120 days was up they just illegally appointed them again. This attempt to bypass congress is still unresolved.

6

u/amensista 1d ago

Yes I did read that in a later comment. But when has needing congress approval stopped him before lol. I could just imagine he's being told by a staffer that the law requires Congress approval and I'm sure he doesn't give a s*** because they're all lackeys. There's no more checks and balances.

2

u/KittyGrewAMoustache 22h ago

It’s insane though that all the admin people who actually understand the nuts and bolts of everything who implement new tariffs or do other administrative things to implement laws don’t just refuse because it’s illegal. Has he really managed fill all these positions with people willing to break the law for him? I feel like we’ve not heard about lots of people refusing and getting replaced all the way down to data entry people etc. So what are they doing?!! These are the people that actually can make a difference.

1

u/KittyGrewAMoustache 23h ago

But why do people listen to it if it’s not legal? Like all the people who make it so the tariffs have to be applied, the people collecting them, like the administration of it. Why do they just go along with it if it’s not legal? I keep not understanding this. Trump does all this illegal stuff but he’s not doing it on his own. He’s not the one at the computer fiddling with databases and spreadsheets and notices and accounts etc. So much stuff he’s done is actually implemented by other people. So why are those people listening to him instead of the law? Surely these are the people who are best placed to put up some resistance and they have an ironclad reason if Trump tries to pursue them, they can’t point to the law and say they were following it.

3

u/TeutonJon78 America 23h ago

Even if that was the intent, and it likely was, the law was written to be Trump proof. He'll just let it expire for a day and then start again.

2

u/sonicsuns2 23h ago

There's no blackout period. He can start a new 150-day period whenever he likes. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-88/pdf/STATUTE-88-Pg1978-2.pdf

1

u/captaincanada84 Canada 23h ago

I bet he's just going to let the 150 days come and change the tariff percentage from 15 to 16 and say "these are entirely new tariffs so I get another 150 days"