The Constitution Party agrees that trade across international boundaries is desirable, but we also support tariffs on foreign imports as a primary source for raising revenues for the federal government. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides that duties, imposts, and excises are legitimate revenue-raising measures on which the United States government may properly rely. The United States relied on a tariff-based revenue system during most of the nation’s history.
“Free trade” in the modern sense of the term actually means “international trade managed and regulated by international bodies like the WTO and NAFTA,” and is therefore completely incompatible with our national sovereignty.
Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.” Congress may not abdicate or transfer to others these Constitutional powers. We oppose, therefore, the unconstitutional transfer of authority over U.S. trade policy from Congress to agencies, domestic or foreign, which improperly exercise policy-setting functions with respect to U.S. trade policy.
Read more here: TARIFFS AND TRADE
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