Madeline Solomon Challenges Trump Tariffs After 1 Supreme Court Ruling

1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 19

Madeline Solomon, in a New York Times letter, argues Peter Navarro’s defense of tougher tariff enforcement rests on flawed assumptions about tariffs’ legitimacy, enforceability and economic benefits.
February’s Supreme Court ruling is central to her case: she says it found Trump exceeded his authority when imposing tariffs on imports from most U.S. trading partners.
Navarro had argued foreign manufacturers were evading tariffs through deceptive practices and that new U.S. measures and technology could curb that behavior and boost domestic manufacturing.
Solomon counters that tighter scrutiny would become a cat-and-mouse contest with companies finding new workarounds, and says there is no evidence tariffs or stricter enforcement revive U.S. manufacturing.
Her critique also points to Trump’s abrupt reversal on threatened Canadian tariffs this week, using it to question the policy’s consistency as well as its effectiveness.