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Letters | Trump is ‘making America great again’, but at what cost?
Readers discuss his misuse of the president’s emergency powers, separation of powers in the US, and potential guests at Russia’s Victory Day parade
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It should not be lost on us that US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs were announced on the back of a declaration of national emergency, to address what he described as harmful foreign trade and economic practices.
The fact sheet on his “Liberation Day” provided the basis for his imposition of a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports to the US and higher “reciprocal” duties on some of the country’s biggest trading partners.
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According to the White House, large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits have led to the “hollowing out of [the US] manufacturing base, resulted in a lack of incentive to increase advanced domestic manufacturing capacity, undermined critical supply chains and rendered [the US] defence-industrial base dependent on foreign adversaries”.
Moreover, these deficits are driven by “the absence of reciprocity in [US] trade relationships and other harmful policies like currency manipulation and exorbitant value-added taxes perpetuated by other countries”. Trump therefore invoked his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 to address this national emergency.
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Even if the Trump administration’s understanding of the state of affairs is accurate, does this situation amount to a national emergency? In other words, is this an appropriate use of the president’s emergency powers?
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