President Donald Trump's strategy to declare emergencies to push through his policies might only "solidify opposition" to him, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., warned Tuesday.
In an interview on CNN's "Right Now," the libertarian-leaning Paul balked at Trump's threat to raise tariffs on Mexican products as an abuse of the emergency system.
"Tariffs, laws, have to originate with Congress, and I think you can't just declare emergencies on spending, on tariffs, also on arm sales," Paul said. "They are now saying that they are going to sell arms to Saudi Arabia despite the objections of Congress.
"And so I think what you may be finding if we try to run government by emergency is it may solidify opposition, even people like myself who are originally supportive of President Trump, largely supportive of his initiatives. I can't be for letting the president have all the power that the constitution gave to Congress."
Paul also argued "it sends a bad signal" during efforts to get a trade pact with Mexico and Canada, "which the Trump administration has actually been successful with, that then to go back and say 'but oh, by the way, we'll heap on other tariffs.'"
"I think this goes a long way toward destroying the trade deal that they were so proud of," he added.
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