Country specific customs duties
<p>How are Trump's recently imposed customs duties on China legal? According to WTO regulations, aren't you supposed to treat all your trading partners equally? </p>

<p>WTO has no direct effect on US law beyond what Congress enacts, namely the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay_Round_Agreements_Act" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Uruguay Round Agreements Act</a>. <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-108/pdf/STATUTE-108-Pg4809.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§102(a) of the act</a> affirms the supremacy of US law, meaning we can do what we want if Congress approves. <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Title 19</a> generally deals with customs duties, and import tariffs have been legal for a long time. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Expansion_Act" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Trade Expansion Act</a>, passed by Congress, allows the President to impose tariffs based on a recommendation from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce if "an article is being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten or impair the national security" (<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19/1862" rel="nofollow noreferrer">19 USC 1862</a>). The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Act_of_1974" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Trade Act of 1974</a>, passed by Congress, also authorizes the president to implement tariffs, which (§301) Trump relied on in imposing tariffs on Chinese imports.</p>

customs-law