The tariffs introduced by the Trump administration are widely seen as an economic disaster in the making. So why are they happening in the first place?
Some might say this is democracy in action. Trump ran for president promising these tariffs, and voters elected him. So now he’s delivering on that promise.
But that’s only part of the story. A better explanation is that these tariffs are a sign of deeper problems in American democracy — a shift toward a strange system that mixes democratic and authoritarian traits.
In a healthy democracy, Trump wouldn’t be able to impose sweeping tariffs on his own. The Constitution gives Congress the power to raise taxes, and tariffs are just taxes on imports.
But over time, the balance of power has shifted. The president now has far more control than the system was meant to allow. Instead of being a leader limited by checks and balances, the president has started to act more like an elected dictator.
The danger with dictatorships — even elected ones — is that there are few, if any, limits on what the leader can do.
This often leads to reckless decisions and national disasters. Democracies tend to do better because decisions are debated, evidence is considered, and power is shared.
That’s part of the reason why America, not authoritarian regimes like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, thrived in the 20th century.
How Did America’s Political System Help Create the Tariff Crisis?
In February, when Trump and Elon Musk began disrupting federal agencies, political scientist Adam Przeworski said he was “at a loss.”
Despite being one of the top experts on democracy, he couldn’t quite describe what was happening.
Trump may have been elected fairly, but the way he’s using power changes the relationship between government and society dangerously. He’s replacing the rules of democratic politics with something far more authoritarian.
Understanding the U.S. as a mix of democracy and authoritarianism helps explain the tariff situation better.
On one hand, voters chose Trump, and he’s following through on a key campaign promise. In democracies, sometimes populists win. Plato talked about this thousands of years ago.
But democracies also rely on rules that prevent populists from turning into dictators. In the U.S., those rules include constitutional checks and balances, especially the rule that Congress controls taxation.
Instead of asking Congress to approve his tariffs, Trump is using vague emergency laws to avoid the usual democratic process.
This is how a hybrid political system works. America still holds fair elections, so it’s democratic in that sense.
But those elections don’t function properly because Congress, the body meant to write and approve laws, has stopped doing its job.
This allows the president to make major decisions on his own, even ones that could damage the global economy.
How We Got Here: Congress Gave Up Its Power
America’s shift from full democracy to something more dangerous didn’t happen overnight. It’s been decades in the making.
Congress is largely to blame. Because of political gridlock and fear of making tough decisions, it has slowly handed over more and more power to the executive branch.
Sometimes this was deliberate, like allowing agencies to handle complex policies. Other times, it was accidental, such as giving the president broad emergency powers that are now being misused. And often, Congress just did nothing, forcing the president to act alone.
The courts haven’t helped much either. While the Supreme Court has occasionally tried to limit presidential overreach, it’s been inconsistent and sometimes partisan. It also tends to defer to the president on major issues like war, trade, and immigration.
For years, people on both the left and right warned that growing executive power was a threat to democracy.
They were right. But their warnings were ignored because people assumed that internal checks inside the executive branch, like legal advisors and expert policy offices, would keep presidents in line.
These advisors were supposed to give independent legal opinions or offer evidence-based policy advice. In the worst cases, the Justice Department could investigate wrongdoing.
Other checks were informal. Presidents might avoid risky policies to protect their public image. Or they might simply follow their own moral compass.
But all of these checks were voluntary, and Trump ignored them. He’s weakened internal oversight, silenced experts, and acted without the caution we expect from someone in high office.
Ultimately, the rest of the political system, especially Congress, created the environment that allowed this power grab to happen.
The only thing stopping a president like Trump was tradition and norms, and he had no problem breaking them.
Why This Matters for Everyone: The Tariff Crisis as a Warning Sign
Some might ask: if we still have elections, why does it matter if the president has more power than he should? Won’t democracy fix itself in the long run?
The tariffs are a clear example of why this matters. When democratic systems break down, policymaking gets worse, and everyone pays the price.
Studies show that democracies tend to make better decisions. They grow faster, innovate more, offer better healthcare, and are even more likely to win wars.
That’s partly because democratic laws are made through public debate and legal oversight. Mistakes can be corrected, and policies are grounded in evidence.
Authoritarian systems skip these safeguards. They can act quickly, but they also allow one person or a small group to make reckless decisions with no one to stop them.
Think about Mao’s Great Leap Forward in China — a deadly disaster caused by one leader’s bad ideas. Or look at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, driven by Putin’s personal beliefs and unchecked power.
Trump’s tariffs are nowhere near as catastrophic, but they follow the same pattern: one man, acting alone, making a major decision without proper oversight.
If he had to go through Congress, these tariffs might never have happened. But because our system isn’t functioning like a true democracy, Trump could bypass the rules.
He might still back down. But even if the worst is avoided, the bigger problem remains: America’s democracy has weakened, and we’re all vulnerable because of it.
The system is hanging by a thread — and if this isn’t the moment it breaks, another one is surely coming.
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