[bdelmas]

People may or may not have voted for Trump but I find this extremely disturbing. Unless it’s illegal when did the DOJ become involved in politics and policies? They are more and more stepping outside of their role. Setting tarifs is one of the tools and role of the executive branch. This will limit even more what a president can and cannot do.

[padjo]

The DOJ? What are you talking about? This is the judicial branch, you know one of the three coequal branches of government. It just ruled that the power to set tariffs is not in fact a power of the executive branch.

[bdelmas]

I am not sure what you are not understanding since you know there are 3 branches.

The judicial has no say on this. The judicial branch is more and more pushing political agenda when it’s not their role. Tariffs were always part of the executive branch, it’s by itself an executive action in the spirit of the law. Still if the US decides that it should not be part of the executive branch anymore, it is not to the judicial branch to decide! But it is up to the legislative branch.

This is what I am saying. Plus the fact that the US is stripping more and more power from a branch called the "executive branch" making it less and less what it is supposed to do.

[padjo]

You said the DoJ, which is part of the executive. The judicial branch just ruled on a matter of law. That's what they do.

Also the power of the purse has always been with congress, the constitution is very clear on that.

Finally the notion that the US is stripping power from the executive is honestly farcical. The exact opposite has been happening for decades now.

If you are a US voter then the reason for the current political situation is becoming very clear to me right now.

[bdelmas]

You know what after digging more into the subject I can say that you are effectively right. So thank you for taking the time and commenting on that. I still think it should be a tool a US president can have. Congress is not fast enough to put pressure and removing it as much as the executive branch can do. I think that this and similar economic tools are critical just seeing how thing are unfolding and how the future is going to look like.

For DOJ ya I meant the judicial branch.

[padjo]

Well kudos for admitting your error, it's rare enough these days.

Here's the thing, the executive does have the power to enact tariffs in emergencies, but if you actually want to change industrial policy it's a long term project that takes probably minimum 10 years of sustained consistent policy. Not the whims of an administration.

There's a great case to be made for fixing the balance of trade. Randomly applying tariffs is not achieving it, it's just a grift for kick backs.