Although the text of Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution specifically empowers the Congress (not the president) to set import tariffs (“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises …”), it turns out the legislative branch began delegating this power to the president during FDR’s quasi-dictatorship in the 1930s and 40s. (See here, for example, for an introduction to U.S. tariff policy.) As a result, the constitutional question we should be asking instead is this: Does the Congress have the authority to delegate any of its “Article I” powers to another branch of government in the first place? Perhaps it is time for courts to revisit the non-delegation doctrine, though good luck with that, since it turns out that Congress has also delegated most of its lawmaking powers to a plethora of regulatory agencies! (Bonus links: Ilya Somin, Adrian Vermeule, and William Funk.)