Jacob Reiskin
89 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1280
Congress has provided the President extraordinary authority to enact emergency trade remedies. Throughout the Trump Administration, American consumers and manufacturers paid the costs of this delegation. This Essay considers procedural reforms that Congress should pass to ensure that future Presidents do not have unchecked authority to order sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) and duties under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Although the Biden Administration is unlikely to be dependent on unpredictable unilateral emergency action, President Trump exposed the power that any President has to create economic upheaval. Several recent bipartisan bills reforming the President’s emergency trade power signal that the time is ripe to reconsider trade policy powers. Yet, those bills do not go far enough. Three administrative reforms are necessary to ensure economic stability: (1) Congress should require a publicly available, broad economic impact study within three months of an emergency order; (2) Congress should narrow the delegation of national security remedies by only extending temporary approval for trade measures over $1 billion imposed on unenumerated nations; and (3) Congress should redefine national security in the statutes. Congress can adjust the delegation of emergency trade powers to ensure that the President can respond swiftly to adversaries without having unbridled ability to disrupt commerce with trading partners.
