Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 – yes, that tariff act, aka the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the law that famously turned a stock market crash into a worldwide depression – authorizes the President of the United States to impose tariffs on imports from foreign countries that impose “any unreasonable charge, exaction, regulation, or limitation which is not equally enforced upon the like articles of every foreign country,” or that otherwise discriminate “against the commerce of the United States.” The tariff can be anything up to 50 per cent.
There is no appeasing Donald Trump, or deterring him
