The Commerce Clause and Import-Export Clause together establish that the federal government holds exclusive power to regulate international trade. Article I, Section 9 prohibits Congress from taxing exports from any state. Article I, Section 10 bars states from imposing import or export duties without congressional consent.
The Framers designed these restrictions to address three core problems. The federal government needed unified control over foreign commerce to speak with one diplomatic voice internationally. Import duties were expected to become the primary federal revenue source, so states taxing goods threatened federal solvency. Seaboard states might otherwise tax goods flowing through their ports, effectively imposing tariffs on citizens of inland states and creating destructive interstate trade wars.
These provisions ensure federal supremacy over international trade while protecting the domestic market from state-level protectionism. Congress delegates tariff authority to the president under statutes like Section 301 of the Trade Act and Section 122 for balance-of-payments emergencies.
Import-export restrictions shape whether America presents one unified trade front or fractures into competing state tariff regimes. They also determine whether tariff revenue flows to states or the federal treasury.
People think states can impose their own tariffs on imported goods. They can't—the Constitution reserves this power exclusively to Congress.
Import-export restrictions shape whether America presents one unified trade front or fractures into competing state tariff regimes. They also determine whether tariff revenue flows to states or the federal treasury.
People think states can impose their own tariffs on imported goods. They can't—the Constitution reserves this power exclusively to Congress.