The Trump administration presses forward with its tariff policy and introduces new election law and Treasury rules, while facing several new lawsuits challenging previous actions.
The Trump administration engaged in wide-ranging actions this week. It announced two new tariffs: one on automobile imports and another on countries that import oil from Venezuela. Additionally, it issued new rules for Treasury disbursements to agencies aimed at preventing fraud and waste, and imposed significant new election law requirements. Meanwhile, legal challenges to the administration’s previous actions continue to move through the courts.
Latham lawyers are carefully monitoring the rollout of President Trump’s policy priorities through executive orders, agency actions, and installment of new personnel. Below is a high-level overview of these actions, broken down by topic, along with updates on related court challenges, personnel changes, and other breaking developments in their implementation.
Trade and Tariffs
The Trump administration announced two major tariffs this week:
- On March 24, President Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all goods imported to the United States from any country that imports Venezuelan oil, whether directly or indirectly. As with previous tariffs, President Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which authorizes the president to regulate international commerce after declaring a national emergency in response to a threat to national security. In this case, President Trump identified the regime of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela as posing an unusual and extraordinary threat to national security. The tariff is slated to go into effect on April 2. (For more details on the administration’s tariff policy, see this blog post.)
- On March 26, President Trump issued a proclamation announcing a 25% tariff on certain imported automobile parts. As justification for this tariff, the president relied on a February 2019 report from then Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, finding that automobiles and certain automobile parts are being imported into the United States in quantities that threaten national security. The new tariffs are scheduled to take effect on April 3.
Banking and Finance
President Trump issued two executive orders this week that introduce major changes to federal financial operations, with the aim of reducing fraud and waste.
- On March 25, President Trump issued the executive order “Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.” This order requires the Treasury to implement new oversight and verification protocols for disbursing funds to agencies. The implementation includes establishing certain pre-certification requirements that agencies must complete before disbursing funds to individuals or organizations to ensure that payments are “legal, proper, and correct.”
- On the same day, President Trump issued the executive order “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account,” which mandates the federal government transition to using electronic funds transfers instead of paper checks.
Federal Workforce
The Trump administration continues to make dramatic changes to the federal workforce.
On March 27, President Trump signed an executive order limiting employees of numerous federal agencies from unionizing. Following suit, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum identifying several common provisions of agency collective bargaining agreements that are potentially inconsistent with the president’s priorities. These include limiting Performance Improvement Plans to 30 days, discontinuing participation in union grievance proceedings when terminating employees, and ending payroll deductions of union dues.
Education
As discussed our blog post Week 9 in Review, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Education to take the necessary steps to close the Department of Education, to the extent permissible by law.
That executive order is now subject to court challenges in Maryland and Massachusetts.
Elections
On March 25, President Trump issued an executive order imposing significant new rules governing elections. Notably, the order requires that prospective voters show proof of US citizenship to state officials. The order also requires states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls and directs the Attorney General to assist states with review and prosecution of noncitizens unlawfully registered to vote.
Federal Trade Commission
President Trump recently challenged the constitutionality of removal protections for agency officials by removing two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). (For more details on these removals, see this blog post.)
On March 27, the two removed FTC Commissioners filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that their removal violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, the APA, and separation of powers. In 1935, the Supreme Court upheld the FTC’s removal protections for Commissioners in a case called Humphrey’s Executor. In February, the Office of the Solicitor General indicated that it will urge the Supreme Court to overrule that decision.
Personnel Moves
- On March 27, President Trump withdrew Representative Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be UN ambassador.
- Christopher Landau, a former partner at Kirkland & Ellis and Ambassador to Mexico under the previous Trump administration, was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of State.
