Emergency Powers, Rogue Economics: Trump's IEEPA Gamble Turns U.S. Into a Global Threat

This has been grossly underreported, in my opinion. When Congress passed the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in 1977, the intent was clear, give the president a nimble tool to respond to grave external threats to national security. It was not meant to be a lever for trade wars, economic bullying, or personal vendettas. Yet here we are, watching Donald Trump invoke IEEPA as the legal backbone for a sweeping, chaotic, and likely unconstitutional set of global tariffs.

On its face, Trump’s maneuvering is baffling, a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods, with additional targeted spikes reaching as high as 54%. Allies like Canada and the EU are lumped in with adversaries like China. Retaliation has been swift and severe. Markets have plummeted. And the Federal Reserve, caught off guard, has issued rare warnings about the inflationary and destabilizing effects. Even Trump loyalist Elon Musk has lost $12 billion in a single day, and is publicly distancing himself from the policy.

But there’s something deeper at play here. Trump isn’t just trying to shift trade balances. He’s using the legal architecture of national emergency to sidestep Congress entirely. The IEEPA allows the executive to block transactions, freeze assets, and act swiftly in crises. But nowhere does it explicitly authorize tariff-setting as a tool of emergency economic defense. In fact, no previous president has interpreted it this way.

Enter the paradox: a law meant to protect the U.S. from international threats is now being used to threaten the global economy on behalf of the U.S. And in doing so, Trump may have transformed America into the very threat IEEPA was intended to guard against.

This is not lost on legal scholars, or even some conservatives. A new lawsuit filed by the conservative-backed New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), with ties to Leonard Leo and Charles Koch, argues that Trump’s use of IEEPA to impose across-the-board tariffs is a blatant overreach. The suit, brought on behalf of a small Florida stationery business, points out that there’s no legal nexus between Trump’s declared opioid emergency and a global tariff regime. The tariffs, the plaintiffs argue, are clearly about shrinking the trade deficit, not combatting fentanyl.

GOP lawmakers are also beginning to balk. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Rand Paul have joined Democrats in opposing Trump’s emergency declaration. In the House, Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon is preparing a bill that would require congressional approval for future tariffs imposed under IEEPA or similar authorities. And while House Republican leadership is trying to shield members from a floor vote, resistance is building beneath the surface.

Economically, the fallout is just beginning. Tariff-induced inflation is pushing the U.S. toward stagflation: low growth, high prices, and no clear escape hatch. Meanwhile, international trust in U.S. economic leadership is evaporating. Canada and the EU have already pledged to retaliate. Even Vietnam, once seen as an alternative to Chinese manufacturing, is reevaluating its relationship with the U.S.

So what’s the endgame? Some analysts believe this chaos is the point. By creating a self-inflicted economic emergency, Trump sets the stage to further consolidate executive control, particularly over the Fed, which Project 2025 aims to place under White House authority. With the economy in freefall and inflation surging, Trump could argue that only bold, centralized leadership can save the country. The Fed, Congress, and any institution that resists could be cast as obstructionist or even traitorous.

By using this emergency authority to launch a unilateral economic assault on allies and rivals alike, Trump has essentially weaponized a national security statute for personal economic ideology and political dominance. The resulting chaos, tariffs without congressional input, retaliatory moves from Canada, the EU, and Asia, and global markets in freefall, is making the U.S. look less like a stabilizing superpower and more like a rogue state with nukes and a printing press.

The paradox is chilling! Trump declares an economic emergency to fight foreign threats... by becoming one himself. And in bypassing Congress to “defend the people,” he is stripping the people’s representatives of their constitutional role.

IEEPA wasn’t designed for this. The founders didn’t design the presidency for this. And the American people shouldn’t tolerate it.