Continuing tariffs on Israeli goods exemplifies the overreach of Trump’s policy.
P resident Trump’s 15 percent tariff on goods imported from Israel is a striking example of the broader problem of unauthorized executive power over trade. Article I of the Constitution assigns to Congress alone — not the president or the judiciary — the power to tax, including the power to impose tariffs. The Framers carefully divided the government’s powers among the three branches to safeguard the liberty of the people. When the executive bypasses those safeguards and imposes taxes unilaterally, it raises serious constitutional concerns.
The Framers repeatedly and explicitly warned of the dangers inherent in allowing the executive to usurp legislative power. The American Revolution was fought, in part, over the indignity of “taxation without representation.” In response, the Constitution they ratified vested “all legislative Powers” of the national government “in a Congress of the United States.” Among those powers, first and foremost, was the power to tax.
This principle has served the nation well. In 1985, Congress passed the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement, recognizing that free exchange between close allies served both nations’ interests. Since then, U.S. exports to Israel have surged by nearly 500 percent and the U.S. has become Israel’s largest export market. By 2024, Israeli tariffs on U.S. goods were already close to zero, and this past April, Israel eliminated its remaining import duties on American products. Similarly, before the Trump administration’s embrace of broad baseline tariffs, Americans paid a minuscule 0.05 percent tariff on goods imported from Israel.
The new tariff will impose immediate costs. American importers are likely to pass the added tax directly to American consumers. Moreover, just months ago, the Manufacturers Association of Israel projected that a tariff of 17 percent could result in the disappearance of 26,000 Israeli jobs and $2.3 billion in exports — significant losses for a nation with a population just over half that of the New York City metropolitan area.
The benefits of free trade with Israel go well beyond economics. Israel is a frontline ally in the defense of the West against Iran and its proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, which openly proclaim, “Death to Israel, death to America.” Israel is currently fighting a brutal ground war against terrorists who conceal themselves (and their approximately 20 remaining hostages) behind civilians, hoping to provoke tragedies that sympathizers can exploit to undermine Israel’s legitimacy. Would Congress have approved a 15 percent tariff on a close ally at war with a shared adversary? Such a policy harms Americans and Israelis alike.
That is precisely why the Constitution requires that bills intended to raise revenue originate in the House of Representatives, where lawmakers face direct accountability to voters every two years. Legislating is difficult by design; as Justice Neil Gorsuch has explained, the Framers regarded those difficulties as “bulwarks of liberty.”
Trade policies that shift unpredictably based on executive preference undermine economic stability and our constitutional order. The imposition of tariffs on Israel without congressional consent is inconsistent with the rule of law and especially ill-timed given the war she is currently waging against our shared terrorist enemies.
Congress should immediately reassert its constitutional role in matters of taxation and trade to ensure that decisions of this magnitude are made through the representative process the Framers intended. If Congress fails to do so, the precedent set will invite future presidents of either party to bypass the people’s representatives whenever it suits them.