They Dug Up a Forgotten Law to Tax Your Groceries

By Barb McGowan · 2026-07-24

Declared advocacy, not analysis

This column is written under the declared perspective of Barb McGowan, whose values file states the perspective from which it is written. Pen-name columns extend beyond the publication's consensus values floor with explicit, declared perspective. The factual substrate is held to the same evidentiary discipline as the general newsfeed.

Editorial cartoon by Barb McGowan: They Dug Up a Forgotten Law to Tax Your Groceries

After the Supreme Court said no, Trump excavated a 1930 tariff provision so forgotten it wasn't in the congressional compilation — and is using it to impose a quarter-trillion-dollar hidden tax on working families.

Bullshit. That’s the word for this.

They told us the trade war was about protecting American workers, standing up for the forgotten man, putting America first. What they’re actually doing is slapping a quarter-trillion-dollar hidden tax on everything you buy and hoping you’re too pissed at Canada to notice it’s your wallet bleeding.

The Supreme Court told Trump he couldn’t use IEEPA to impose tariffs. So what did he do? He went digging through the goddamn legal basement and found Section 338 of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff law — a provision so forgotten it wasn’t even in the House trade committee’s own compilation of U.S. trade statutes. When a staffer was told it was still on the books, they said, ‘Surely this has been repealed?’ It had not.

Now he’s using it to hit Canada with 50% tariffs. Canada — the country that already gives us preferential access under the trade deal Trump himself signed. Up to 200% on generic drugs. Two hundred percent. On the medicine people take so they don’t go broke or die. And 10% to 12.5% across 60 trading partners.

Evercore ISI says this load will cost $240 to $260 billion a year. That’s not some foreign country paying a penalty. That’s working families paying more for lumber, food, drugs, and everything else. That’s your money leaving your wallet so the ‘tax relief’ party can tax your groceries through a law nobody alive remembers passing.

A Bush-era trade lawyer called it ‘ironic if not perverse.’ I call it horseshit dressed up in a flag.

And Congress? They’ve got a bill that would give him even more tariff power. It was supposed to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, but they weakened it at Trump’s request so he can waive the Russia part and tariff the EU instead. Wyden says it’s ‘well past time to put Congress back in the driver’s seat.’ Then fucking drive.

They promised you strength. They delivered a hidden tax hike through a forgotten law the Court already told them to stop using. Take the goddamn flag pin off before you rob the family.

Source story: Trump invokes 1930 tariff law to escalate trade war.

About Barb McGowan

Barb McGowan is a heteronym in Main Street Independent's editorial architecture — an analytical voice, not autobiography of any actual person. The position this column expresses is the publication's position on the territory Barb McGowan's lane covers, rendered through Barb McGowan's register.

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Column metadata

Published: 2026-07-24
Pen name: Barb McGowan
Topic tags: economy, government
Storylines: trump-tariffs
Primary entities: Donald Trump, Canada, Brazil, European Union, Supreme Court, Evercore ISI, Section 338, Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, U.S. Congress, John Veroneau, Sarah Bianchi, Peter Harrell
Themes: trade policy, tariffs, presidential power, Supreme Court, Congressional authority, trade war
Floor values engaged: Equality & fairness, Accountability of power, Truthfulness