Keeping up with the Trump administration's tariffs on international trade can give anyone whiplash. Foreign governments have been calling and sending delegations to negotiate while the U.S. stock market is a roller-coaster in the wake of changing policies.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to limit President Trump's trade authority, said the Constitution gives Congress the authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce — and Congress has perhaps delegated too much authority to the president in this area.
Asked about the viability of any effort by Congress to stem Trump’s power to impose tariffs and the political implications of the economic impacts of these trade wars, Chris Tausanovitch, an expert on Congress, democracy and the legislative process, says:
"To take back Congress' power over tariffs would likely require enough votes to override a presidential veto. That means more than a third of Republicans in the House and more than four out of 10 Republicans in the Senate. But as the economic damage gets worse and worse, I would not write off the possibility that it could happen."
Tausanovitch is an assistant professor of political science at UCLA and an expert on government, American politics, Congress and public opinion. In particular, Tausanovitch is interested in understanding how citizens provide incentives for legislative position-taking and how legislators respond to those incentives.
In 2012, Tausanovitch worked on the Senate Finance Committee as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. In addition to studying the federal government, he has examined state legislatures and city governments and has published articles about federal, state and municipal governments.
