Maxwell School News and Commentary

"Walking away from situations that challenge U.S. interests, as Trump has done with Hong Kong, only to hide behind a wall of ever higher barriers, will only serve to leave China unchecked and America increasingly alone," writes Professor Mary Lovely.

"Tariff rollbacks signal a desire to reduce mounting U.S.-China trade tensions, offering a much-needed model of global cooperation at a time of shared crisis," writes Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

A whole series of sort of mid-tier and lower level and smaller kind of up-and-coming, wannabe cartels are trying to set up shop in this terrain," says Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. "They're striking deals with each other, with the big players."

"If the public impeachment process builds the Ukraine abuse of office case clearly so that average Americans can see what the president did, it should lead to impeachment and a trial in the Senate," says William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. "From there on, everything depends on events that have yet to occur."

"Rep. [Adam] Schiff is protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution from being questioned 'in any other place,'" said William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. "The protection clearly extends to the offending Tweets."

"This new bundle of taxes falls heavily on final goods, such as clothing, shoes, household goods and baby products. If the tariffs start on September 1, as suggested by the president's tweet, shoppers will see the impact immediately, as they begin their back-to-school shopping," writes Professor of Economics Mary Lovely. 

"The President, like every actor in our national government, is bound by the Constitution. Article II of the Constitution allows the President to take certain actions, but the list is quite short, especially compared to the long list of Congress's Article I powers," says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks says the precedent concern is legitimate and "one of the biproducts of this episode might be to impose on Congress the determination to revise the underlying law and make it more difficult for any president in the future to use the mechanism. One of the biggest open areas in the law is that there are no criteria to decide what constitutes an emergency."