Trump Threatens To Impose Risky Tariff Scheme Whether Congress Approves Or Not

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump threatened on Monday to impose high tariffs on imports if he is elected, regardless of whether Congress could pass them or not.

“Number one, I don’t need them. I don’t need Congress, but they’ll approve it,” Trump said at an agriculture-themed campaign stop in Smithton, Pennsylvania.

“I’ll have the right to impose them myself if they don’t. I’d rather get their support. The ones that understand business all support it,” he said.

Prior to the Great Depression, tariff rates were mostly set by Congress. But in the wake of global trade barriers put up during the Depression, Congress delegated authority to negotiate international trade deals to the president, subject to congressional approval.

But the president also retains some power to unilaterally set tariffs, including under national security and anti-dumping laws, according to the Congressional Research Service .

Trump’s comments marked the latest round in the former president’s tirades about trade and threats to impose barriers whose cost most economists say would fall squarely on consumers.

Trump has consistently said he would impose a 10% tax on imports from most countries and has often threatened a higher tariff of up to 60% on goods from China, the world’s second-largest economy.

Though Trump has billed tariffs as a cost-free way to raise huge amounts of money for the government and punish countries perceived as uncooperative with the United States, economists have warned they could cause havoc for the economy, especially if they ignite a trade war with other big economic powers.

Contrary to Trump’s claims, most economists, regardless of which school of economics they belong to, agree that consumers usually bear