Trump Gets Introduced to Section 301 || Peter Zeihan

TL;DR

Trump is forced to use Section 301 tariffs after the Supreme Court ruled his emergency tariffs unconstitutional, but the process is slow and the USTR is understaffed.

Key Points

• 1.The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump's emergency tariffs were unconstitutional. The court found his blanket tariffs on every country were a gross abuse of the cited law, since tariff authority belongs to Congress unless expressly delegated to the executive.
• 2.Section 301 is the legal alternative, but it is slow and process-driven. It requires opening an investigation, a public comment period, documented findings, and negotiations before any tariffs can be imposed — a process taking months, not days.
• 3.The USTR office, run by Jameson Greer, lacks the staffing to handle the workload. Hollowed out under Biden and further cut by DOGE, the office can realistically handle only one 301 investigation at a time, yet Trump has already launched investigations against Canada, Japan, Korea, the EU, Mexico, and China.
• 4.Trump's refusal to seek congressional Trade Promotion Authority leaves him stuck. The last president to use TPA was George W. Bush; Trump avoids Congress because he'd have to commit publicly to a plan and vote, and his House and Senate majorities have been whittled down by pulling allies from Congress into his administration.