The White House has been boasting that President Trump’s partial pause in the trade war with China is a historic breakthrough. But two new reports, one from The New York Times and the other from the nonliberal Wall Street Journal editorial page, neatly expose what a monstrous scam this notion truly is, in and of itself. As they detail, Trump has put the global economy through major turmoil and uncertainty, but without winning any serious concessions from China. This will get worse for Trump: In addition to being terrible policy, the tariffs are a massive abuse of power. And once the lawsuits against them get going, this too will be fully aired out. We spoke to George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin, who’s helping spearhead one of the most important legal challenges. He explains why the tariffs are on weak legal ground, what the prospects are for reversing them, and how they reflect a much deeper lawlessness on Trump’s part. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
PODCAST
Trump Tariff Fiasco Worsens as Brutal New Reports Expose a Fresh Scam
As media scrutiny of Trump’s trade wars intensifies, a lawyer who’s helping several businesses sue to overturn the tariffs explains that they aren’t just terrible policy—they’re also a massive abuse of power.

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