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Trump’s Tariff Threats a Reminder of the Need to Curb Presidential Power
On September 24, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told a crowd in Georgia that “tariff” is “one of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard.” The former president’s affection for taxing goods Americans import is well established. But it seems that as we’ve moved closer to election day, his tariff zeal has intensified. Last week, he said he would use tariffs to lower food prices, a suggestion my colleagues Scott Lincicome and Sophia Bagley have labeled “deranged.”On the twenty-fourth, he threatened a 200 percent tariff on John Deere tractor imports because the company had previously announced plans to shift some production from Iowa to Mexico. This apparently was an off-the-cuff proposal, prompted by the sight of a John Deere tractor behind him at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. He also repeated a threat to automakers that, “We’re going to put big tariffs on those cars that are coming here [from Mexico] at 100 to 200 percent, and they’re no longer going to be competitive … so you better stay in Michigan.”
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