President Trump spent a not insignificant part of the weekend complaining on Twitter about America's trade relationships with its closest allies, including Germany, NATO, and especially Canada. In fact, he and his economic advisers lobbed several personal, false attacks at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with Trump focusing on Canada's steep tariff on certain dairy imports. "Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal," Trump tweeted. "Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270 percent on dairy!"
But Trump was actually able to unilaterally impose 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum "because — and only because — of a Kennedy-era special exemption to normal trade law for national-security purposes," David Frum notes at The Atlantic. Congress wouldn't have approved those tariffs, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won't allow Congress to try to block them. Frum continued:
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