- a.Congress passed laws allowing the President to impose tariffs unilaterally for national security reasons.
- b.The Constitution of United States authorizes the President to impose tariff subject to some restrictions.
- c.The President of United States has sweeping powers to impose tariffs to correct the trade imbalance.
- d.None of the above
Answer: (A) Congress passed laws allowing the President to impose tariffs unilaterally for national security reasons.
Answer as of 2024 — this may have changed since.
The US Constitution (Article I, Section 8) gives the power to 'lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises' to Congress, not to the President, so options B and C are wrong. A President can impose tariffs only under powers delegated by laws passed by Congress, the classic one being Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, 1962, which permits tariffs on imports that threaten national security (used for steel, aluminium and automobiles); hence option A. Others are Section 301 (unfair trade practices) and Section 122 (a surcharge of up to 15% for 150 days for balance-of-payments problems) of the Trade Act, 1974. In Learning Resources v. Trump (20 February 2026) the US Supreme Court held 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 1977 does not authorise tariffs, striking down the 'reciprocal' tariffs, after which a temporary global tariff was imposed under Section 122.