Economy

What Would Be Involved in a Trump Economic Emergency Declaration?

John Seetoo

Published: February 17, 2025 9:27 am

Border Enforcement and Interdiction of Drugs and Human Trafficking – A National Economic Emergency

Several weeks ago, President Donald Trump declared a National Economic State of Emergency, with the intention to use tariffs and economic leverage to handle the issues at hand, as opposed to using military force. He cited both specific and across-the-board justifications, such as:

• The lack of border enforcement by the Canadian and Mexican governments in preventing illegal border crossings, frequently accompanied either by Fentanyl smuggling or human trafficking.
• Panama’s purported overcharging of fees to US ships and the presence of Chinese military forces in the Canal are direct violations of the US-Panama Canal Treaty neutrality clause.

Despite mainstream media pundits and economic academics claiming that President Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs would “only hurt the US”, Mexico and Canada both capitulated and agreed to beef up border security, while Panama eliminated fees on US ships in the Canal for the next 12 months. The tariffs were suspended for 30 days pending verification of the promised actions. 

Fixing An Uneven Playing Field

Echoing the unfair Panama Canal fees on US ships, overcharging of tariffs on US goods by other countries has also prompted a policy of reciprocal tariffs from President Trump with the goal of leveling the international trade playing field.  There are numerous examples:

• The EU charges a 56% tariff on US-made Harley Davidson motorcycles.
• The EU charges a 10% on US cars vs. 2.5% for the US on European cars.
• India charges an average 17% tariff on all US products vs. 3.3% for the US on Indian goods.

Even the Council on Foreign Relations concurred with President Trump on the tariff imbalance: “The growing sense that others—especially big developing nations such as China and India—are not making similar commitments has certainly weakened U.S. public support for the global trading system. In the best possible outcome, Trump’s reciprocity initiative could open the door to negotiating long-overdue corrections to those discrepancies.” 

Trillions of Dollars Spent Fraudulently

Further giving credence to President Trump’s stance on a National Economic Emergency was reported by White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt that the GAO and the Elon Musk led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had identified $2.7 trillion of improper, and potentially criminal fraudulent payments made to a variety of domestic and overseas agencies, with many parties proven to be non-existent or illegal. 

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), recently addressed a House Subcommittee regarding wasteful spending and made a strong case for an economic emergency declaration, citing:

• Social Security was on track to go under in 8 years.
• Medicare was on track to become insolvent in 10 years.
• The US national debt has swollen to the point where it is accruing $2 trillion extra interest due annually, thus undermining the US dollar. 
• In 15 years, the US dollar will become worthless, unless the nation drastically cuts spending and revamps its finances.

Burlison applauded DOGE’s audit work in uncovering wasteful spending and its forensic work, which has shown that hundreds of millions of USAID funds went into the pockets of Middle Eastern terrorists, biolabs in China that may have originated Covid-19, and payoffs via DoD to media organizations like Reuters (invoiced as Large Scale Social Deception) for propaganda. 

Ironically, DOGE owes its origins not to President Trump and Elon Musk, but rather, to Barack Obama. It was created by Obama as the US Digital Service in 2014, renamed and repurposed as DOGE in January 2025. It was created by Obama as an IT oversight body, and as the renamed DOGE, it operates under 44 USC Chapter 35, which governs federal IT and cybersecurity oversight. Congress can’t defund it, as it was a preexisting program, and it operates under currently existing frameworks, so Democrat challenges will face standing issues. 

Given the disclosures of fiscal mismanagement being uncovered and reported on the DOGE website every day, the American citizenry is demanding reform, and the Trump Administration is supplying it. Since the majority of the big government programs being exposed for fraud are controlled by Democrats, their hand, being caught in the proverbial cookie jar, are resorting to accusations of President Trump acting like a dictator, and accuse him of trying to manipulate laws to stay in power past his 4-year term. 

If this was even remotely true, President Trump would be the first dictator to seize power by shrinking the government instead of expanding it. He won’t need to stay in power if President Trump’s reforms continue to garner such widespread voter support. Vice President J.D. Vance, Donald Trump Jr., and even Barron Trump might be nominated to continue the legacy.