Rand Paul: Trump’s Tariffs Not a Valid Use of Emergency Powers

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said President Donald Trump’s tariffs on 130 countries were not a valid use of emergency powers.

Paul said, “I think through checks and balances, when one party controls, all of government has to come from the majority party as well. So it has to be Republicans brave enough to step forward. And what I do is an anti-Trump. My opinions are the same as they’ve been under President Biden, President Obama. I have not changed my opinions. Emergency powers are for emergencies. They should be short-lived, and we can’t throw out all of the Constitution’s rules on where taxes originate because someone declares an emergency. There are no true emergencies. There’s no emergency with Greenland. That’s ridiculous.”

He added, “And the idea by the secretary that, oh, this is to prevent an emergency, now we’re declaring emergencies to prevent emergencies. That would lead to endless emergencies. That’s kind of where we are now. The tariff war we’ve declared emergencies with 130 countries. Does anyone really believe that’s a valid use of emergencies? So I’ve argued under both Democrat and Republican presidents we should get rid of. We should rein in and check and balance and constrain the emergency power.”

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