Emergency Powers

Before leaving yesterday for the G7 meeting in France, Donald Trump tweeted (what else?) that he'd ordered American companies to leave China.  He claimed the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act gave him the authority to do so.

As is so often the case with Mr. Trump's statements, that's not correct.  The law in question is not (much to Trump's dismay, no doubt) blanket authorization for tightening the economic screws on some entity or nation who have ticked off the President.  Rather, the law is quite specific.  Paraphrasing it, the President may regulate international commerce only after declaring a national emergency in response to any unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States which has its source in whole or substantial part outside our country.

To date, the law has been used in situations like:

• the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, after which the United States seized Iranian property in the U. S.
• the 1995,seizure of all U. S. property of Colombian narcotics dealers
• the 2006 seizure of all U. S. held property of officials of the government of Democratic Republic of Congo, because of violence and atrocities on the part of that government

A trade war with China (or any other nation) doesn't rise to the level of unusual and extraordinary threat.  Neither does it allow a President to act as an autocrat.

Once again, the Petulant Child in Chief got it wrong, but probably enjoyed the rush of hereby ordering ...