In the News

Opinion: A History of Congressional Authority in U.S. Trade Policy

by Rep. French Hill
Washington Times 
April 9, 2025

With President Trump’s global tariff strategy underway, now is an excellent time to examine U.S. trade policy leading to this moment. The Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade and import tariffs in Article I, Section 8, which authorizes Congress to “regulate commerce with foreign nations …” and “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises.” Among the initial acts of the first Congress was a tariff measure. In the early Republic, tariffs represented 90% of federal revenue; now, they represent a small amount of our federal revenue.

In 1816, House Speaker Henry Clay made tariffs a core element of his “American system” for economic growth. From those early days, terrific legislative debates over tariff targets and rates produced raw sectionalism and political challenges. From 1828 and the so-called Tariff of Abominations to the fights in post-Civil War America that featured charges that high tariffs and protectionism benefited well-to-do businesses while hurting the farmer, consumer and common man, tariffs dominated elections.

While Mr. Trump likes to applaud President McKinley, known as the “Napoleon of Protection,” it was actually during the 1890s that Congress began a transition from directly setting thousands of tariff rates. Members had become exhausted by routinely engaging in industrial and sectional fights. The Dingley Tariff Act of 1897 allowed the president to study and negotiate reciprocal tariff measures between nations. This was a small but significant move away from the staunchly nationalistic protectionism of the 1880s and early 1890s.

With the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913, Congress was given the power “to lay and collect taxes on incomes,” and federal revenue became less dependent on tariffs. In 1916, President Wilson signed legislation to create a formal, bipartisan, professionally staffed Tariff Commission to assess rates and their economic benefits and costs for the legislative and executive branches. While this predecessor to today’s International Trade Commission began its work, the Republican Party continued to support higher tariffs and protectionism and the Democratic Party believed in more modest tariffs and a broad income tax.

All this came to a head in the 1920s when Congress, with leadership from President Coolidge and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, created a truly pro-growth income tax system that facilitated a broad base and lower marginal rates. This produced record revenue and contributed to the economic success of the 1920s.

At the same time, Congress continued its debates about setting tariff rates. In June 1930, this ended in a catastrophic thud when President Hoover signed the now infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back of Congress, setting tariff rates and accelerating a growing economic slump by starting a significant retaliatory trade war.

Although Smoot-Hawley did not cause the Great Depression, it contributed to a slower recovery. Those stark effects led Congress to pass the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934. The act authorized the president to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with countries. It allowed the president to reduce tariffs by up to 50% of the levels set by Smoot-Hawley in exchange for tariff concessions from other countries.

As a result, since 1934, Congress has delegated some of its Article I, Section 8 authority to set tariff rates to the executive branch under trade promotion authority legislation. The TPA is a set of statutes that empower the president to negotiate agreements and adjust tariff rates.

Since 1979, Congress has passed six measures extending trade promotion authority to the president for limited periods. The most recent TPA was passed in 2015 and expired on July 1, 2021. Mr. Trump’s signature renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement, was a direct result of the 2015 TPA.

Unfortunately, after the TPA expired in 2021, President Biden and congressional Democrats made no effort to renew trade promotion authority or provide any leadership on America’s trade priorities. The TPA allows Congress to partner with the president while maintaining its Article I power.

Working with Mr. Trump, Congress should authorize trade promotion authority in the 119th Congress. With Mr. Trump’s commitment to resetting a more fair and balanced trading system globally, Congress’ reauthorization of trade promotion authority would properly exercise our Article I oversight responsibility and advance important tools for the executive branch to use in negotiating bilateral and multilateral agreements.