Wilson signs the Trading with the Enemy Act

President Woodrow Wilson signed the Trading with the Enemy Act on October 6, 1917, giving the executive branch authority to regulate or prohibit economic transactions with foreign enemies during wartime. Treasury Secretary William McAdoo gained power to freeze assets, block financial transfers, and seize enemy-owned property in the United States. The law required a declared war or national emergency and contained no expiration date, creating a permanent peacetime tool that future presidents would exploit far beyond its wartime purpose.