President Trump’s extraordinary edict demanding U.S. companies move out of China — delivered in a series of angry tweets Friday — left industries of every stripe scrambling to understand how seriously to take the order, and how the White House might enforce it.
Businesses from retail to electronics to home goods, many already under pressure from a months-long U.S.-China trade war, were contacting their industry associations for guidance and awaiting more substantive announcements from the White House. Trump does not have the authority to “duly order” companies to leave China, according to Jennifer Hillman, a Georgetown University law professor and trade expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
He does have power under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to prevent future transfers of funds to China, “but only if he has first made a lawful declaration that a national emergency exists. Congress could terminate the declaration if it wishes. Moreover, even if all this happened, it would not provide authority over all of the U.S. investments that have already been made in China,” Hillman said.
