One of the peculiarities of current American politics is that President Donald Trump has managed to start a trade war with the entire planet on his own, with no specific authorization from Congress. Massive hikes in tariffs, reductions, delays, and threats have all been based on squint-hard-and-you’ll-see-it interpretations of legislation originally meant to limit presidential emergency powers. So far, judges haven’t been able to squint that hard; a federal appeals court recently agreed with an earlier ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) doesn’t say what the administration claims, though the decision is stayed until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in.