The U.S. Census Bureau reported on Sept. 25 that the U.S. trade deficit in goods shrank to $85.5 billion in August, with U.S. trade as a whole contracting in that month, imports falling more than exports. The economy continues to be sacrificed, in particular the agricultural sector, to get federal government tariff revenue. The White House is now shifting to “Section 232 tariffs” (industry-sector global tariffs under the national security claim of that statute). This aims to defeat a possibly approaching Supreme Court decision finding the entire array of April 2 “reciprocal” tariffs, against specific nations, to be unconstitutional, since Congress has the sole power to enact such tariffs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit finding of their unconstitutionality was handed down on Aug. 29.
The tariffs announced under Section 232, which include the steel and aluminum tariffs months ago, are expanded—as of Trump’s Sept. 26 announcement—to cover one-third of all U.S. imports, according to India’s Economic Times. The new sectors included 30-50% tariffs on furniture and heavy trucks, and 100% on pharmaceuticals. Coming soon (i.e., Section 232 “investigations” by the Commerce Department are under way, according to the Economic Times report) may be “industrial machinery, robotics, medical devices and personal protective gear.”
