Bill

HR 407

CONGRATS-PATRICK STATTER

104th Regular Session Introduced by Bob Morgan

H.R. 407 would bar the President from using IEEPA to impose import duties or quotas, while preserving other emergency powers.

Resolution Adopted

WeVote Research Nonpartisan

Bill Summary · HR 407

Summary — H.R. 407 (119th Congress, 1st Session) — "Prevent Tariff Abuse Act"

Purpose / Intent

H.R. 407 would limit the President’s emergency economic authority by expressly excluding the power to impose import duties, tariff‑rate quotas, or other quantitative import quotas under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The stated intent is to prevent the Executive Branch from using IEEPA national‑emergency authorities to enact tariff or quota measures that affect imports.

Key provisions

Amends section 203 of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702) by:
- Redesignating existing subsection (c) as subsection (d).
- Inserting a new subsection (c) that states: “The authority granted to the President by this section does not include the authority to impose duties, tariff‑rate quotas, or other quotas on articles entering the United States.”
Effect: under a declared national emergency, the President could continue to exercise other IEEPA powers (e.g., blocking property, controlling transactions, export controls) but would be explicitly barred from imposing import duties or quotas through that statute.

Who or what would be affected

Executive branch: narrows a tool available to the President under IEEPA for responding to international crises involving trade.
Congress: shifts potential responsibility for imposing new import duties or quotas to statutory trade authorities that require Congressional action or existing trade statutes (e.g., Trade Act provisions, Section 232, etc.).
U.S. trade partners and importers: future emergency‑based tariffs or quotas could not be enacted solely under IEEPA, affecting how rapid trade measures might be applied in crises.
Agencies enforcing trade measures (e.g., Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Customs and Border Protection) would be affected insofar as they could not implement import duties/quotas via IEEPA orders.

Procedural history (as provided)

Introduced in House: January 15, 2025 (Rep. Suzan K. DelBene).
Referred to Committee on Foreign Affairs and additionally to Committee on Ways and Means.
(Record entries provided also show placement on various calendars, readings, report/enrolled actions, and dates in April–May 2025; some entries appear to reflect parallel or unrelated resolutions — see note below.)

Potential implications and considerations

Limits executive flexibility: would prevent a President from quickly imposing import duties/quotas under IEEPA in response to emergent threats, potentially slowing a rapid trade response.
Increases Congressional/ statutory role: trade measures addressing imports would likely require use of other statutory authorities that involve Congress or different legal standards.
Legal/administrative clarity: the amendment explicitly settles a statutory question for IEEPA by excluding import duties/quotas, reducing legal uncertainty about the scope of emergency tariff authority.
International trade law: could reduce likelihood of unilateral emergency tariffs imposed under IEEPA, with implications for WTO relations and partner responses.

Note on mixed content in source materials

The materials supplied include other, unrelated text fragments (a House resolution celebrating MEAG Power, and an Illinois state House resolution congratulating Patrick Statter). Those texts are separate resolutions and are not part of the federal statutory amendment to IEEPA described above. This summary focuses on the federal H.R. 407 that would amend IEEPA.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.