Dave Townsend joined Bloomberg Law Podcast's June Grasso to discuss the legalities around the new tariffs declared by President Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The President defined the trade deficit as a national emergency and imposed the recent reciprocal tariffs, the first use of IEEPA in such a manner. Dave shared: "one legal question that remains and is unknown as this time is whether IEEPA was ever intended to allow and does allow the President to increase tariff rates." While "Congress has a variety of tools they could use to modify, to reverse, to change what the executive branch is doing with respect to tariffs," no action has been taken at this time, Dave pointed out.
He also noted the uncertainty that this creates for businesses. He said, "one big unanswered question for the business community right now is whether the President intends for this to be a negotiation that results in changes in other countries' policies and practices or if the President just believes that a universal tariff that applies to all global sources is a policy choice that he thinks improves the United States economically."
Listen to the full interview on the Bloomberg Law Podcast.