Bracewell’s Josh Zive told S&P Global that President-elect Donald Trump could use either the International Emergency Economic Power Act or Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to carry out his tariffs plan.
“[E]ither of these tools provide the president pretty broad authority so that the president could probably do this,” Zive said. “The bigger question is whether he actually intends on imposing those tariffs or [is] just threatening them in order to secure some commitments on narcotics and or immigration, and that’s still, I think, the more likely scenario right now.”
Trump has stated that the proposed tariffs would be in place from day one until Mexico and Canada cracked down on illegal immigration and drugs flowing into the US.
