CAN the U.S. impose tariffs on Canada or Mexico?

Politruk

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Don't we have free trade with both, guaranteed by the USMCA treaty? It replaced NAFTA. Trump himself negotiated it.
 
New tariffs imposed by the United States before the renegotiation of the USMCA would violate its letter and spirit as hailed by Trump back in 2020. The president would have to cite presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or some other statute, to carry out his threat.

https://www.piie.com/microsites/2025/future-usmca

Doddering Donnie may not be able to do it legally, and it may be another issue for courts to sort out.
 
Don't we have free trade with both, guaranteed by the USMCA treaty? It replaced NAFTA. Trump himself negotiated it.
No we have area's of trade that are regulated by the agreement. But say for example lumber. That is not in the agreement. Energy is, but if a country determines there is "dumping", then it can enact Tariffs. I'm not sure if the Tariff's Trump is applying can be brought to the Chapter 11 Trade dispute section or not.
 
USMCA is a treaty. In 1899 McKinley's administration was the first to unilaterally withdraw from a treaty and it's been going on ever since. SCOTUS weighed in during Carter, allowing it, and subsequent courts upheld it during Reagan and Bush. I think Congress stopped trying to block it after those.
 
A trade agreement is a type of treaty.
Again the key word is agreement. If it was a treaty, using the standard meaning, it would have been call as such. Since it's inception as the FTA it has always been an agreement.

Feel free to debate the nuances as much as you wish. In the end, there is no legal recourse except maybe Chapter 11 for a court to intervene. Even if the tribunal does agree that the tariff's are not legal in the sense of the agreement, Trump can withdraw from it.
 
Again the key word is agreement. If it was a treaty, using the standard meaning, it would have been call as such. Since it's inception as the FTA it has always been an agreement.

Feel free to debate the nuances as much as you wish. In the end, there is no legal recourse except maybe Chapter 11 for a court to intervene. Even if the tribunal does agree that the tariff's are not legal in the sense of the agreement, Trump can withdraw from it.
Treaties require confirmation by the Senate. Did the USMCA?
 
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