1. United States
2. N.C.
3. Letter

The president's unprecedented use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs on our largest trading partners is a blatant abuse of power. The very act of imposing broad-based tariffs on all goods from Canada, Mexico, and China lacks any direct connection to the declared national emergency regarding illegal immigration and the fentanyl crisis. IEEPA was not intended to give the president unilateral authority to set tariff policy and upend U.S. trade agreements. This action likely violates the Supreme Court's "major questions" doctrine by claiming an unheralded power to drastically impact huge segments of the economy without clear congressional authorization. The economic fallout alone, estimated at over $1,200 per household annually, underscores the vast significance of these tariffs which Congress never explicitly delegated. Furthermore, there is no reasonable explanation for how tariffs on unrelated goods can address a public health crisis rooted in domestic policy failures. I urge you to take immediate action to rein in this presidential overreach and reassert Congress's constitutional power to regulate foreign commerce. Allowing the president to wield IEEPA as a blank check for imposing tariffs at any level risks subverting the rule of law and separation of powers. This crisis demands Congress reclaim its authority over tariff and trade policy before further escalation.