President Donald Trump’s tariffs may now be challenged in the House following the death of House Resolution 1042 on Tuesday night. The resolution included a procedural measure that would have prevented the House from voting until August to terminate the national emergencies that Trump has used to impose “reciprocal tariffs.” Now, the House will likely vote on Wednesday on House Joint (H.J.) Resolution 72, which, like its companion measure in the Senate that passed last April, seeks to end the national emergency Trump declared last February and roll back the tariffs subsequently imposed on Canadian goods.
But Republican leaders could not persuade Kiley, Bacon, and Massie to vote “yes.” Massie defended his decision to break from party ranks as “defend[ing] the Constitution,” which vests “taxing authority…in the House of Representatives, not the Executive.” Similarly, Bacon said he must “answer to Article I,” which grants Congress exclusive power to regulate international commerce and impose taxes.
Beginning in February 2025 with his tariffs against Canada and Mexico, Trump has invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to authorize his unilateral modification of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Trump used IEEPA in April, and again last summer, to impose his not-so-reciprocal tariffs on imports from all around the world, the burden of which has been almost entirely borne by Americans.
Unsurprisingly, to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Trump had to declare a national emergency. Such emergencies are subject to congressional review.