CDZ Is an economic war a viable form of war?

[RodISHI]

I got to wondering about this after reading all the comments about president Trump's recent tariffs; and the claim that what he is doing is beyond the scope of the president's legal powers. Curious about that accusation I looked up what actual lawful powers he has in this matter. I believe he is doing the right thing on these tariffs for China at the moment but is it lawful? (I hope he is not being a hypocrite and has pulled his own business interests out of there too)

One of my considerations in pondering this all since last night is. "what exactly is war now since so many things have been labeled such?" A lot of people have claimed that the next world war would not be with weapons of violence but with cyber weapons and economies in the balance. Since war has been relabeled in this modern era it would seem president Trump could call for a tariff to be established and since Congress is ineffective in doing its duty in this matter the president appears to me to be in the right place in considering it all a security issue.


Trump's Legal Authority to Impose Tariffs
The bottom line: while earlier instances of unilateral tariff impositions by the Trump Administration (on goods from China, on all steel and aluminum imports, etc.) were all premised on broad presidential authority granted in various trade-related statutes (e.g. Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act), Trump is basing his power to impose the new Mexican tariffs (scheduled to go into effect on June 10) on "the authorities (sic) granted to me by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)."

The IEEPA [full-text here] kicks in once a national emergency has been declared with respect to an "unusual and extraordinary threat … to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States." The IEEPA then gives the president facing such emergency the power to:

regulate … or prohibit … any … transportation, importation, or exportation of … any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest … or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.


The Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
For update years etc...Reciprocal Tariff Act - Wikipedia

Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 - Wikipedia

National Emergencies Act - Wikipedia

Worth watching
Cambria CEO Marty Davis analyzes the root of the trade imbalance with China and President Trump’s efforts to address the problem.

 

[sartre play]

My problem with the trade imbalance would be that now we are doing business akin to taking a chain saw to cut a rose from a bush, instead of a pair of garden shears.

 

[RodISHI]

My problem with the trade imbalance would be that now we are doing business akin to taking a chain saw to cut a rose from a bush, instead of a pair of garden shears.

Once the brambles have embed themselves into the trees, the trees are already dying and a chainsaw could be the only remedy. If the rotten stump that remains is full of creepy crawlers it has to be fully scattered also.

 

[task0778]

There's a couple of problems with conducting an economic war, with tariffs and such. The first is, most of the problem countries are primarily totalitarian in nature with a dictator type person in charge. And these guys don't really give a rats ass about the welfare of their people, as long as they are in power they just don't care. So, with countries like China, Russia, Iran, NKorea, Venezuela, Cuba, etc., it just doesn't do any good. They might agree to a deal of some kind and then renege on it when it becomes necessary. For them. China for instance may agree to a deal but I seriously doubt they'll live up to it, especially when the next president comes into office.

The other problem with an economic war is that tariffs and such do as much damage to us as it does to them, maybe more. The US consumer ends up paying more for something, with the money going to the federal gov't, true? As a real conservative, I kinda have a problem with giving our federal gov't more money, mostly cuz they're so wasteful, inefficient, and fraudulent with what they get now.

There ought to be other mechanisms to coerce the bad guys into playing fair, but I dunno what that might be. Anybody know of a good book that describes all of the options that might be in play, with the pros and cons of each action?

 

[FA_Q2]

ALL war is economic war.

It may be trade, tariffs or forcing them to spend on military hardware but in the end it all boils down to resource. AKA economics.