Comments
GELFAND’S WORLD - There is a simple and legal way that we could solve the whole tariff problem without any action at all from Donald Trump.
I repeat. There is a lawful and Constitutional solution to all the nonsense over Tariffs being foisted upon us by Trump. And let's remind ourselves that the tariffs -- current and threatened -- are doing grave damage to our economy. If left in existence, they will throw the United States into a recession while simultaneously damaging the rest of the world while creating long term tension with most other countries. And that's just the beginning of our woes, which would certainly end up with a substantial loss of American power and influence.
So how do we take ourselves out of this mess? It would only require a straightforward act of congress.
The Constitution allows congress to pass laws by simple majority vote, provided that the president is willing to sign them. There is, therefore, nothing to stop the House of Representatives and the Senate from passing a bill that would remove any authority the president has to create tariffs and to undo any tariffs that Trump has unilaterally enacted since he took office in January. Perhaps the congress would prefer to clarify things by memorializing the tariffs that existed previously to Trump's current term in office, effectively returning us to the conditions prior to November of 2024.
But, you will say, we would expect Trump to veto any such legislation, wouldn't we?
The Constitution foresaw such disagreements and provided for congressional power to overcome presidential vetoes. It just requires a two-thirds vote by each house.
So there it is. The Republicans in congress could rescue the country from Trump's weird fixation on enacting tariffs. All they would have to do is to vote for fiscal and economic sanity. And it wouldn't require unanimity. All it requires is for about half of them to cast those votes. The Democrats will do the rest. It would be an easy two-thirds vote, maybe even verging on three-quarters, and we could breathe a little easier.
So it's on the Republicans to either save the American economy or to continue to cower in fear of Trump's wrath.
OK -- I fully understand that the Republicans are not likely to agree to this action. They are politically invested in Donald Trump's political revolution. Even the ones who personally (and secretly) disagree with Trump's policies and fear for the future of our country have not yet shown the spine that is required to set us on the right path.
But some of them have been to college, and of that number, some took economics. They have to know that every tariff is, in effect, a national sales tax on some class of items. Those who managed to pass econ will also understand that the suppression of shipping, curtailed investment, and loss of purchasing that we are seeing at the moment has a negative effect on the economy that results in a downward spiral. The whole thing is recessionary. And the losses build on each other, as each successive loss to our economy pulls down more businesses. It's on the congressional Republicans to save us or give in to Trump's bullying.
Is Trump maybe just kidding?
Since the beginning, people have been wondering whether the announced tariffs were for real (if therefore the products of a deranged mind) or just the opening gambit in some attempt at negotiating conditions that would allow for more American success in the export trade. Mind you, neither approach is a good thing for the country, but guessing the one vs. the other leads to very different negotiating strategies on the part of our trading partners. It would appear that -- contrary to how Trump talked about things in his "liberation day" speech -- Trump seems to be willing to call off most of the tariffs in the short term. This argues at least slightly for the "opening gambit" interpretation, which would in turn imply that Trump will accept anything he can get. He will then proclaim a great victory that only he could have won. It's not a lot different than his bombastic proclamation over the weekend that he has personally rebuilt the American armed forces.
The pundits and commenters are running out of things to say, as Trump has added tariffs, taken them away, added them back, and most recently postponed them. These actions tend to belie Trump's stirring rhetoric on Liberation Day, in which he promised so much in terms of a renewed American manufacturing sector. Instead, we have endured cycles of threat and then an olive branch, followed by more threats and another branch.
Here's what it looks like: Trump can be stared down, and when this happens, he breaks. I'm tempted to add a new old word to our vocabulary and start referring to the White House as the Waffle House.
I should probably hold off on that one, because in my experience, the proprietors of Waffle Houses around the country are a lot nicer than the current occupants of the White House. Still, you've got to like the phrase.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected].)
