No Tariffs Without Representation (Erik Matson, 2/22/26, Law & Liberty)
The president has less de facto control of the executive regulatory agencies than he ought to have as the head of the Executive Branch. But he himself also has too much power. One example now conspicuously in the public eye is the de facto powers the president now enjoys to unilaterally tax imported goods—that is, to levy tariffs.
According to the Constitution, the power to levy taxes lies with Congress. Article I, Section 8 reads: “The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises.” In the beginning, tariff schedules, like all federal tax schedules, were determined by Congress. Tariffs were the main source of federal revenue into the early twentieth century, prior to the establishment of the federal income tax in 1913. The prospect of the president unilaterally determining the particulars of any tax, let alone such an important array of taxes for revenue purposes, would have appeared unjust to many of our founders. […]
Congress began to delegate its tariff powers to the Executive Branch in 1934. At the encouragement of the Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Franklin Roosevelt secured the passage that year of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act (RTAA).