No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2025
The No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2025 would require the President to obtain congressional approval before imposing any duties (tariffs) on imported articles. Under the bill, the President must submit a proposal to Congress with a rationale for the duty, and a joint resolution enacted into law approving the imposition. The requirement applies to a broad set of authorities that can impose duties, including major trade and emergency powers statutes and trade agreements. The law explicitly excludes embargoes that ban all articles (or all articles of a certain type) from a country. In addition to creating this new approval process, the bill would add Sec. 155 to the Trade Act of 1974 and make a clerical amendment to the table of contents. The bill’s intent is to shift greater control over tariff policy from the Executive Branch to Congress, potentially slowing or blocking unilateral tariff actions and increasing legislative oversight of trade measures.
Key Points
- 1Requires congressional approval via a joint resolution before the President may impose a duty on imported articles, with the President required to submit a proposal and rationale to Congress.
- 2Applies to a broad range of authorities that can impose duties, including the Act itself, the Tariff Act of 1930, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the Trading with the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and provisions implementing or governing trade agreements.
- 3Embargoes are expressly excluded only in the sense that excluding all articles or all articles of a type from a country is not subject to the new approval requirement.
- 4The bill is introduced in the Senate by Senator Rand Paul and would add new Section 155 to the Trade Act of 1974, establishing the congressional approval process.
- 5Adds a clerical amendment to insert the new section into the Trade Act of 1974’s table of contents.