Dershowitz to Newsmax: Trump Can Recast Tariffs Under Article II Powers

Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Friday that President Donald Trump can still impose steep trade penalties despite the Supreme Court's ruling that he exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, arguing the administration simply relied on the "wrong approach."

On "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," Dershowitz said he anticipated the high court would reject the administration's legal theory.

"I thought that the lawyers for Trump made the wrong argument to the Supreme Court, and I predicted they were going to lose based on their argument," Dershowitz said.

The high court ruled that Trump went beyond his authority in invoking IEEPA to impose broad-based tariffs, siding with challengers who argued that Congress, under Article I of the Constitution, holds the power to levy taxes and duties.

"Article I of the Constitution says that duties and taxes can be imposed only by Congress, and Congress can delegate that authority to the president," Dershowitz said. "But if you argue that tariffs can be a weapon of foreign policy, a weapon of diplomacy, a weapon of preventing war, then it's an Article II power of the president, and Congress has no power to limit it."

Dershowitz said Trump's legal team framed the tariffs primarily as a revenue-raising measure, which placed them squarely under Article I constraints.

"If you argue that it's a fundraising activity by Congress, of course you're going to lose," he said.

Instead, Dershowitz urged a reframing that would ground the policy in the president's constitutional authority over foreign affairs and national security.

"I would say, go back to the drawing board now, give me executive authority to impose these kinds of things," he said, describing what Trump should demand from his advisers.

"You don't even have to call them a tariff. Call them whatever you want.

"Call them a sanction, call them a financial penalty, call them whatever you want. Just give me the power to use these things in order to implement policy."

Dershowitz drew a distinction between raising money and using economic penalties to influence foreign governments.

"We all know now that President Trump has been using tariffs in two different ways," he said. "One, obviously, to raise money for the United States.

"He brags about it. He boasts about how much money he made.

"That power he doesn't have without authorization from Congress. But the power to use tariffs, to punish, to threaten, to deter, to be part of foreign policy, that's within the presidency."

He pointed to Trump's claim that he helped stop fighting between India and Pakistan by threatening sanctions.

"If that's not an Article II power, I don't know what is," Dershowitz said.

He also dismissed suggestions that the ruling could require Trump to seek congressional approval for military action against Iran.

"Nonsense. No, no, no, the president doesn't have to go to Congress," he said, citing past presidents who initiated military actions without formal declarations of war.

Dershowitz said Trump "wisely" recognized that the ruling leaves "flexibility to do the same thing with different labels and different motives," adding, "I'm confident he's going to do it and it's going to be successful."

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