The Clock Is Ticking on Trump’s Trade Revolution. Here’s How to Save It.

On February 20, the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs. Hours later, Trump signed a new 10 percent global tariff under a different law—Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.

It would seem like the Court failed to derail the centerpiece of Trump’s economic agenda, but the truth is tariffs are on life support because Section 122 tariffs expire in 150 days. If nothing is done by July 24, 2026, the core of the President’s tariff agenda will be wiped out.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that President Trump has a solution, not only by using the executive’s existing legal authority, but also by pursuing a specific piece of tariff legislation that actually has a chance of making it through a Congress with razor-thin Republican majorities.

First, Trump can act using other executive authorities.

Justice Kavanaugh pointed the way in his dissent on the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling: the administration checked the wrong statutory box with IEEPA, but other statutes — Sections 232, 301, and 338 — remain fully intact. The White House has already announced several Section 301 investigations into “unfair trade practices.” Section 232 — national security — also applies. Domestic manufacturing capacity is a national security asset.

Neither of these requires new authority. Neither requires an act of Congress. And unlike IEEPA, neither was what the Supreme Court ruled on last week.

Still, executive action can be reversed by the next administration or challenged in another court case. If the goal is to rebuild American manufacturing for the long haul, Congress needs to act.

The question for President Trump, then, is what kind of tariff can make it through a Congress filled with recalcitrant Democrats and enough hold-out Republicans to block a party-line vote. The answer is a pollution tariff, and it might be the most durable trade tool available for the Trump administration.

The truth is, American producers are at a disadvantage because of environmental regulations. Manufacturers pay more than $29,000 per employee per year in federal regulatory compliance, more than double the average American company. Environmental rules are the single biggest slice of that bill: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, hazardous waste disposal requirements, and more.

Yet our competitors don’t pay the same costs our manufacturers pay because they don’t follow the rules we follow. In Vietnam, for example, 75 percent of industrial wastewater goes straight into the river — untreated. Similar practices are true in China, Brazil, India, and every other major non-European manufacturer.

The left counted it as an environmental win when their stifling green tape pushed American companies to move manufacturing to lower-regulation countries. But they really didn’t do anything to fix the environment. They just moved manufacturing to countries with no meaningful environmental enforcement. They wanted to stop pollution. Instead, they just exported pollution – along with American jobs – to foreign nations.

In principle, America could fix this inequality by throwing out U.S. environmental law. But this won’t work. Yes, many absurd environmental regulations should go, but Americans also don’t want to go back to the days of raw sewage dumps, burning rivers, and stifling smog. Not to mention, many of these environmental rules are mandated by law, so President Trump couldn’t throw them out even if he wanted to.

So instead of challenging the American environmental standards that add costs on to our manufacturers, we should impose a tariff on goods manufactured under environmental standards weaker (and much cheaper) than ours. The logic is simple: if you want to sell in our market, you play by our rules — or you pay the difference.

The beauty of this legislation is that it could actually win bipartisan support. It gives vulnerable Senate Republicans in manufacturing states a “yes” vote they can defend at home, something they desperately need heading into the midterms. President Trump can also challenge those on the left to put their money where their mouth is on the environment. If the left really cared about “the planet,” maybe they should make dirtier countries like Vietnam and China pay for screwing over American manufacturers.

The clock on Trump’s Section 122 tariffs runs out on July 24th. The President has a short time to thread the needle with a tariff policy that will stick, bring factories back home, and level the playing field for American workers.

Chris Johnson is the founder and president of the American Energy Leadership Institute.