Trump tariff flip-flop is madness; Idaho’s Crapo can be silent no more | Opinion

Have whiplash yet from the Trump tariff tirade?

Even if you support tariffs, especially against China, the willy-nilly manner of imposing tariffs then delaying them on countries, particularly our allies, is haphazard and nonsensical.

Trump saying that he’s imposing tariffs on countries with whom we have a trade imbalance shows a shocking level of ignorance of how trade works.

For example, yes, we have a trade imbalance with Canada, but the United States is a country of 350 million people, while Canada’s population is 40 million. Of course we have a trade imbalance with Canada.

The same goes for other countries, such as Cambodia, a nation of 18 million people that Trump hit with a 49% tariff.

To illustrate how asinine Trump’s tariffs are, some have figured out that his “formula” for deriving individual tariff rates is taking the amount of U.S. exports to a country, subtracting the amount imported from that country, dividing by the amount imported and dividing that by two. Why not three or four or five? We have no idea, and neither do serious trade economists.

Sure enough, Cambodia’s trade surplus with the United States comes out to a 98% to 2% split. Divide 98% by two, and you get 49%, the tariff Trump imposed on Cambodia.

Tariffs announced, then delayed

Stock markets plummeted after Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day,” when he announced significant tariffs on a range of countries.

Then, on Wednesday, Trump backtracked and announced a 90-day delay on the tariffs, sending stocks roaring back again. (If someone knew ahead of time what Trump’s announcements would be and when, they’d make a fortune buying and selling stocks at the right time.)

It’s not the first time Trump has announced tariffs only to back off on them days later.

On a broad scale, news that Trump delayed tariffs by 90 days is still poison for long-term economic growth. If a business is going to build a plant that takes a few years to come on line, they need certainty about what economic policy will be. If a company has to guess which random nerve fires in the dear leader’s head on any given day to know what economic policy is, that company will make that investment somewhere with more predictable policy.

Emergency powers unconstitutional

Perhaps less talked about but even more important is Trump’s unconstitutional use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to advance economic and foreign policy goals.

“Emergency powers are not meant to solve long-standing problems, no matter how serious those problems may be,” writes Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program. “Nor are they intended to give a president the ability to bypass Congress and act as an all-powerful policymaker.”

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to “lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises,” and “regulate commerce with foreign nations.”

Trump is once again usurping congressional power, and it’s incumbent on Congress to reclaim its authority to rein in Trump’s reckless tariff policies.

Reestablishing congressional trade authority

That’s exactly what U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are proposing with the Trade Review Act of 2025, which would reestablish limits on the president’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs without the approval of Congress.

The act has 14 cosponsors, including seven Democrats and seven Republicans.

You know whose name isn’t on it?

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

If anyone should be standing up to Trump’s disastrous policies, it’s Crapo. In Idaho, Crapo may have the safest Senate seat in the country, and he doesn’t face reelection for another four years. It’s time for Crapo to put the country’s interests first and set aside his fears of retribution from Trump.

It’s shocking that Republicans like Crapo are suddenly OK with tanking the U.S. economy. This was the party, after all, that six months ago was telling you to vote for Trump because egg prices were over $3 a dozen. Wait’ll you see what the prices of clothes, cars and food are going to be if these tariffs go through.

Unfortunately, Crapo is sounding a cavalier tone about the tariffs.

“Members and the public have questions and concerns about the recent tariff actions,” Crapo said in a Finance Committee hearing Tuesday with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “That’s OK. We should think about tariff impacts and ask questions.”

Once people “contextualize” Trump’s tariffs, Crapo said, according to a story in the Idaho Capital Sun, “the real headline then becomes the fundamental shift in trade policy since President Trump’s inauguration — where the United States actually plans to do trade again,” Crapo said.

We’re OK with a shift in trade policy, especially when it comes to China’s protectionist policies, but we’d rather see a more logical, sensible — and sane — approach to foreign trade policy.

That’s what businesses would like to see, as well.

Several business organizations, including the Consumer Technology Association, Retail Industry Leaders Association, American Apparel & Footwear Association, Outdoor Industry Association and the Main Street Alliance, have thrown their support behind Cantwell’s bill.

Crapo should do the same.