Trump may have backed off those particular trade threats, buthe has mused about new import taxes in virtually every public appearance since his inauguration. And the studies he ordered hint at creative uses of presidential powers, including a potential doubling of the tax rate for some foreign individuals and companies.
“I think it’s significantly different right now. The threats are much more expansive. The sense of legal constraints seems much less,” said Ed Gresser, who led the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s economic research unit during Trump’s first term. “It suggests he feels as president he has the right to create a whole new tariff system all by himself.”
Trump appears all but certain to act earlier in his second term than he did in his first, when he waited a full year before slapping tariffs on foreign-made washing machines and solar panels. He has threatened to impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 while suggesting that Europe, Russia, Brazil, India and several other countries could also see their goods taxed.