Ford signs Trade Act of 1974, creating Section 122 tariff authority

President Gerald Ford signed the Trade Act of 1974 on January 3, 1975, after the Senate passed it 77-4 and both chambers approved the conference report on December 20, 1974. Section 122 gave the president authority to impose tariffs up to 15% for up to 150 days to address large and serious balance-of-payments deficits, codifying a narrower version of the emergency power Nixon had used in 1971. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana chaired the Finance Committee markup that shaped the bill. The 150-day limit and 15% ceiling were explicit congressional choices to prevent open-ended presidential tariff authority.