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President-elect Donald Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide legal justification for a large swath of universal tariffs on allies and adversaries, CNN reported on Monday.
The declaration would allow Trump to construct a new tariff program by using the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, known as ‘IEEPA,’ which unilaterally authorizes a president to manage imports during a national emergency, the report noted.
According to CNN sources, Trump has a fondness for the law, since it grants wide-ranging jurisdiction over how tariffs are implemented without strict requirements to prove the tariffs are needed on national security grounds.
Nothing is off the table,‘ a source told CNN, acknowledging the robust discussion over declaring a national emergency that has taken place.
No final decision has been made on whether to declare a national emergency, sources told CNN.
‘I think the president has broad authority to impose tariffs for a variety of reasons, and there are a number of statutory bases to do so,’ said Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade attorney who served as Trump‘s deputy assistant for international economic affairs. ‘IEEPA is certainly one of them.’
On Monday, a report in the Washington Post said aides to Trump are exploring tariff plans that would be applied to every country but only cover critical imports, a shift from his plans during the 2024 presidential campaign.
But Trump denied the claims.
‘The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong,’ Trump said in a Truth Social post.
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