WSJ editorial board rips Trump over tariff ‘obsession’

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board published an op-ed on Friday ripping President Trump's latest "obsession" with tariffs that "despite their political unpopularity and economic harm."

The administration announced its newest slate of policies that are replacing the lapsing Section 122 tariffs with Section 301. The editors said Trump "doesn't seem to care about the damage since tariff costs are dispersed across businesses, consumers and workers."

Section 301 is intended to tax countries who use "unfair foreign acts, policies, or practices affecting U.S. commerce" and has been used against the European Union, Canada and over 50 other countries for allegations of imports being made using forced labor.

The tariffs will range from 10 percent on countries that have made commitments to adopt and enforce forced labor import prohibitions, and countries that have not enacted a forced labor import prohibition will be hit with a 12.5 percent tariff.

"Yes, the slave traders of Toronto strike again." they wrote.

A new lawsuit is pending against Section 301 tariffs and argues the administration is now stretching Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 too far.

"It is not a freestanding authorization to tax substantially all imports from substantially all trading partners," the lawsuit reads.

The Trump administration has also proposed tariffs under Section 338 to hit Canada with a 50 percent tariff. On his social media, President Trump expressed his belief that Canada was discriminating against the U.S. because of "cheese and retaliatory tariffs."

The last section of tariffs under Section 232 are simply in the name of "national security" which included motor vehicles, metals, generic medicine and other goods.

The tariffs contain notable exemptions and delayed enforcement of goods including pharmaceutical companies that reach agreements with the administration to build manufacturing plants in the U.S. and sell medicines to Medicaid at a most-favored nation price.

"This is an illustration of how the President wields tariffs to coerce policy outcomes he can't get through Congress," the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote.

The editors stress that, "Republicans could pay the price in November" for these policies.

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