Congress should reclaim its right to regulate tariffs
The current disruption in commerce between the United States and Canada caused by the Administration’s tariffs goes far beyond their impact in Northern New England –they violate the very foundation of the Constitution itself. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders called them a sign of a “Dysfunctional Government,” while New Hampshire Democratic Senate nominee, Chris Pappas, “attacked (former Senator John) Sununu during his victory speech …for backing Trump’s tariffs.” Sununu previously stated that “Congress has a big role to play” in the issue. Indeed it does.
In laying the foundation for American governance — the separation of powers — the Constitution gave Congress, not the Executive, primary regulatory jurisdiction over foreign commerce and tariffs. The Constitution’s Commerce Clause explicitly states that Congress has the jurisdiction and power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States” … and to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises…”. Congress asserted its regulatory primacy over commerce among the several States a hundred and 40 years ago.
At the time, the nation faced a growing problem that was beyond the reach of the “several States” to solve. The American agricultural sector found itself subjected to growing interconnected and monopolistic railroad systems that were exercising monopoly powers over rates for service among and between the states. There were then no antitrust laws and, of course, no interstate commerce antitrust jurisprudence. The Granger movement asked Congress to implement its clearly stated Constitutional regulatory jurisdiction over interstate commerce. Congress responded by creating the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887. It is now well past time for Congress to finally fulfill the intent of the Commerce Clause and reclaim and assert its other specifically articulated jurisdiction to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations” by creating a Foreign Commerce Commission, under its Article I oversight.
Such a bipartisan Commission would restore the Constitution’s intended separation of powers. It would restore America’s stability in international commerce. It would also have an immediate geopolitical impact by closing China’s attempted claim of America’s vacated leadership role and its ability to depict the U.S. as the disruptor of economic planning across the globe.