Dems have golden opportunity to pit GOP against Trump's tariffs: House staffer

President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs have sent markets spiraling, and analysts are horrified at the possibility that America could slip into a recession mere months after the economy posted solid jobs and inflation numbers. But they have also opened up a critical opportunity for Democrats to not only pick a public fight with Trump but also divide Republicans in Congress in the process, said House staffer Aaron Fritschner in a lengthy thread posted to X on Thursday evening.Fritschner, who serves as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), laid out the exact plan — and pointed out that the pieces of it are already in the works."Each Trump tariff uses specific legal authorities. Sector-specific tariffs (eg steel) use Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Tariffs on all imports from X country use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) which requires declaration of a national emergency," wrote Fritschner, noting that all the tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China fall under this umbrella. "Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. The Constitution gives total control over taxation and trade regulation to Congress. The authorities Trump is using are limited delegations of that power to the president that Congress passed in previous decades. He is obviously abusing them."ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffsHowever, he continued, "Congress limited those presidential authorities. Trump used IEEPA for across-the-board tariffs on countries, which required declaration of national emergency. Congress gave itself the ability to terminate such emergencies with a quick floor process."Already, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced such a measure to terminate the Canada-specific tariffs, and four Republicans in the Senate broke ranks to support it including former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), prompting Trump to post a meltdown to Truth Social blasting them as "disloyal.""House Republicans snuck a provision to disarm this privilege into the rule for the CR last month, and passed it, so the Senate-passed resolution doesn't have privilege in the House. This does NOT kill it - a vote can still be forced via discharge petition," wrote Fritschner. But more important, he added, "The tariffs Trump imposed yesterday on nearly every country necessitated a NEW declaration of national emergency on April 2. Republicans' jiggery-pokery with the calendar will not apply, a new resolution to terminate THIS emergency now has privilege in both chambers.""If Dems pursue this (stay tuned) Republicans will try to disarm it again," wrote Fritschner. "Last time the public didn't hear about that because the R's snuck it in at the last minute while the press were fixated on the CR. This time people should understand the stakes of that vote when it comes."

President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs have sent markets spiraling , and analysts are horrified at the possibility that America could slip into a recession mere months after the economy posted solid jobs and inflation numbers. But they have also opened up a critical opportunity for Democrats to not only pick a public fight with Trump but also divide Republicans in Congress in the process, said House staffer Aaron Fritschner in a lengthy thread posted to X on Thursday evening. Fritschner, who serves as deputy chief of staff to Rep.

Don Beyer (D-VA), laid out the exact plan — and pointed out that the pieces of it are already in the works. "Each Trump tariff uses specific legal authorities. Sector-specific tariffs (eg steel) use Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

Tariffs on all imports from X country use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) which requires declaration of a national emergency," wrote Fritschner, noting that all the tariffs on Canada , Mexico , and China fall under this umbrella. "Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. The Constitution gives total control over taxation and trade regulation to Congress.

The authorities Trump is using are limited delegations of that power to the president that Congress passed in previous decades. He is obviously abusing them." ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs However, he continued, "Congress limited those presidential authorities.

Trump used IEEPA for across-the-board tariffs on countries, which required declaration of national emergency. Congress gave itself the ability to terminate such emergencies with a quick floor process." Already, Sen.

Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced such a measure to terminate the Canada-specific tariffs, and four Republicans in the Senate broke ranks to support it including former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), prompting Trump to post a meltdown to Truth Social blasting them as "disloyal." "House Republicans snuck a provision to disarm this privilege into the rule for the CR last month, and passed it, so the Senate-passed resolution doesn't have privilege in the House. This does NOT kill it - a vote can still be forced via discharge petition," wrote Fritschner.

But more important, he added, "The tariffs Trump imposed yesterday on nearly every country necessitated a NEW declaration of national emergency on April 2. Republicans' jiggery-pokery with the calendar will not apply, a new resolution to terminate THIS emergency now has privilege in both chambers." "If Dems pursue this (stay tuned) Republicans will try to disarm it again," wrote Fritschner.

"Last time the public didn't hear about that because the R's snuck it in at the last minute while the press were fixated on the CR. This time people should understand the stakes of that vote when it comes.".