Report offers trade reform blueprint for Congress 

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President Trump’s Liberation Day trade tariff policies are failing, just as economists predicted. What can stop the tariff-imposed pain of higher prices, fewer choices, and risk to businesses and jobs? A new CEI report by Kent Lassman, Ryan Young, and Iain Murray offers Congress a blueprint for reclaiming a say in U.S. trade policy. 

“A trade war, like all war, destroys,” said Kent Lassman, CEI president and report co-author. “Congress has the legitimate authority to put America on the stable path for trade policy to the benefit of all consumers. These recommendations would provide relief to the most vulnerable households and small businesses unable to absorb the shocks of policymaking done by whim.” 

“Restoring the separation of powers is a vital part of any trade policy reform program,” said report Ryan Young, CEI senior economist and report co-author. “It is not enough just to lower tariffs or negotiate new trade agreements. Congress must also build institutional safeguards so that future presidents cannot unilaterally raise tariffs again.” 

Co-author Iain Murray, CEI senior fellow and report co-author, adds, “Previous generations learned through hard experience that high tariffs hurt most Americans while benefitting few. It appears we are going to have learn that lesson again the hard way.” 

Key points: 

  • Liberation Day trade tariffs renege on America’s existing trade agreements. 
  • Liberation Day tariffs have no clear goal, with shifting, contradictory rationales related to too many goals: revenue, domestic manufacturing, national defense, the middle class, and foreign trade barriers.  
  • The tariffs fail to meet any of these goals, while simultaneously harming America’s interests abroad and driving developing nations into the arms of China. 
  • Manufacturing is flourishing in America, contrary to prevalent doomsday claims. It is free trade, not tariffs or trade restrictions, that help manufacturing and economic security most. 
  • Exclusive executive power over trade goes against the Constitution’s separation of powers.  

The CEI report draws from and expands upon a chapter on free trade penned by CEI President Kent Lassman for the Heritage Foundation’s earlier Project 2025 report.