Section 301 China Trade Tariffs

March 22, 2018

President Trump directed the U.S. Trade Representative to impose tariffs on Chinese goods following a Section 301 investigation into China's intellectual property practices. The tariffs ultimately covered over $250 billion in imports at rates up to 25%. While the President has delegated tariff authority under the Trade Act of 1974, the unprecedented scale of these tariffs raised questions about whether Congress's Article I power to "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations" and "lay and collect...Duties" had been improperly delegated to the executive. Courts largely upheld the tariffs under existing trade statutes, with the Court of International Trade finding proper statutory authority. The action highlighted the tension between Congress's constitutional tariff power and the broad trade authority it has delegated to the President over decades, effectively allowing one person to reshape billions in trade flows.