{"id":228054,"date":"2019-08-25T01:34:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T05:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=228054"},"modified":"2019-08-25T01:34:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-25T05:34:07","slug":"china-tariffs-fuel-trump-order-for-firms-to-cut-china-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/25\/china-tariffs-fuel-trump-order-for-firms-to-cut-china-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"China tariffs fuel Trump &#8216;order&#8217; for firms to cut China ties"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For all of the Fake News Reporters that don\u2019t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1165111122510237696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 24, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>BIARRITZ, France \u2014 President Donald Trump is threatening to use the emergency authority granted by a powerful, but obscure federal law to make good on his tweeted \u201corder\u201d to U.S. businesses to cut ties in China amid a spiraling trade war between the two nations.<\/p>\n<p>China&#8217;s announcement Friday that it was raising tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. imports sent Trump into a rage and White House aides scrambling for a response.<\/p>\n<p>Trump fired off on Twitter, declaring American companies \u201care hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China.\u201d He later clarified that he was threatening to make use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in the trade war, raising questions about the wisdom and propriety of making the 1977 act used to target rogue regimes, terrorists and drug traffickers the newest weapon in the clash between the world&#8217;s largest economies.<\/p>\n<p>It would mark the latest grasp of authority by Trump, who has claimed widespread powers not sought by his predecessors despite his own past criticism of their use of executive powers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor all of the Fake News Reporters that don&#8217;t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977,\u201d Trump tweeted late Friday. \u201cCase closed!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The act gives presidents wide berth in regulating international commerce during times of declared national emergencies. Trump threatened to use those powers earlier this year to place tariffs on imports from Mexico in a bid to force the U.S. neighbour to do more to address illegal crossings at their shared border.<\/p>\n<p>It was not immediately clear how Trump could use the act to force American businesses to move their manufacturing out of China and to the U.S, and Trump&#8217;s threat appeared premature \u2014 as he has not declared an emergency with respect to China.<\/p>\n<p>Even without the emergency threat, Trump&#8217;s retaliatory action Friday \u2014 further raising tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. \u2014 had already sparked widespread outrage from the business community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s impossible for businesses to plan for the future in this type of environment,\u201d David French, senior vice-president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Consumer Technology Association called the escalating tariffs \u201cthe worst economic mistake since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 \u2014 a decision that catapulted our country into the Great Depression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And trade association CompTIA stressed the logistical strain that would follow if companies were forced to shift operations out of China, saying it would take months for most companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny forced immediate action would result in chaos,\u201d CEO Todd Thibodeaux said in emailed comments.<\/p>\n<p>Presidents have often used the act to impose economic sanctions to further U.S. foreign policy and national security goals. Initially, the targets were foreign states or their governments, but over the years the act has been increasingly used to punish individuals, groups and non-state actors, such as terrorists.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the sanctions have affected U.S. businesses by prohibiting Americans from doing business with those targeted. The act also was used to block new investment in Burma in 1997.<\/p>\n<p>Congress has never attempted to end a national emergency invoking the law, which would require a joint resolution. Congressional lawmakers did vote earlier this year to disapprove of Trump&#8217;s declared emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border, only to see Trump veto the resolution.<\/p>\n<p>China&#8217;s Commerce Ministry issued a statement Saturday condemning Trump&#8217;s threat, saying, \u201cThis kind of unilateral, bullying trade protectionism and maximum pressure go against the consensus reached by the two countries&#8217; heads of state, violate the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and seriously damage the multilateral trading system and normal international trade order.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For all of the Fake News Reporters that don\u2019t have a clue as to what the law is relative to &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":190133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-zeke-miller","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228055,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228054\/revisions\/228055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}