Trump’s Un-American, Unconstitutional Tariff Scheme

Podcast audio:

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula examine the key arguments supporting the President’s tariffs before the Supreme Court and expose their un-American hostility to the rule of law. 

Topics include:

• Background on the case;
• Defying the rule of law;
• Hostility to objective legal interpretation;
• Tariffs are not foreign policy powers;
• The absence of an “intelligible principle”;
• Striking down unconstitutional laws;
• Un-American arguments and policies;
• Likely and desirable outcomes.

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand Lexicon, “Law, objective and non-objective”
• Ayn Rand, “The Nature of Government”
• Ben Bayer, “The Constitutionally Dubious Law Empowering Trump’s ‘Emergency’ Tariff Authority”
• Ben Bayer, “The President Has No “Foreign Policy” Discretion To Impose Sweeping Global Tariffs”
• Ben Bayer, “The Lawyers Defending Trump’s Tariffs Know They’re Un-American. Here’s How We Can Tell”

This episode was recorded on November 13, 2025, and posted on November 19, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

Image Credit: David Talukdar / Moment / via Getty Images