Jimmy Carter-Signed 1977 Law Give President Trump Sweeping Powers to Block Communist China Trade

Legal scholars and trade policy experts say that President Trump is right to claim broad powers to prohibit companies from trading with foreign countries thanks to a 1977 law that has previously not garnered much attention outside the context of national security.

The law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter, gives the president sweeping powers to restrict trade once a "national emergency" is declared.

"The president can impose a virtual embargo on a nation under IEEPA," said John Yoo, director of the public law and policy program at the University of California at Berkeley and a former official in George W. Bush's Office of Legal Counsel.

The law has been used in the past to enact sanctions on hostile regimes such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. The Trump administration is now suggesting using it as a trade negotiation tool. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said China was an "enemy" of the United States on trade.


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