Legality, Next Steps for Canadian Tariffs

Feb 14, 2025

1 min

Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University Professor Julian Ku was quoted in The Globe and Mail article “The best hope for Canada in fighting a trade war with Trump may lie in U.S. courts."

“Using IEEPA to impose tariffs has not been done before, so there has never been a court ruling on this question,” said Julian Ku, who studies the interaction of international law and U.S. constitutional law at Hofstra University.

Mr. Trump has, however, argued that he is responding to external threats, citing the movement of fentanyl and illegal migrants to the U.S. from Canada, Mexico and China. That is likely to prove a potent defense, Prof. Ku said.

“The court has also been deferential to the President on national-security matters, and the language of the statute is very broad, so it is far from clear which way the court would come down on this issue,” he said.

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Julian Ku

Professor of Law and Interim Dean

The Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor in Constitutional Law and Professor of Law.

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