By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-08 17:46:17 | Updated at 2025-01-09 08:48:27
15 hours ago
US president-elect Donald Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide legal justification for a series of universal tariffs on allies and adversaries, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The move will allow Trump to build a new tariff programme by using the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), which authorises a president to manage imports during a national emergency, the report said.
“Nothing is off the table,” a source familiar with the matter told CNN, acknowledging that a discussion had taken place over declaring a national emergency.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
A national emergency declaration under IEEPA has long been considered as a key legal tool that Trump may invoke to take quick action on his campaign promise to impose a universal tariff of at least 10 per cent on all imports into the US.
Three weeks after his election in November, Trump said on social media that immediately after his January 20 inauguration, he would sign “all necessary documents” to begin charging Mexico and Canada 25 per cent tariffs unless illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking is halted.
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