Tag: constitutional separation of powers

In early 2025, President Donald Trump reasserted his "America First" trade agenda, initiating a series of aggressive tariff measures aimed at addressing longstanding trade deficits and promoting domestic manufacturing. These policies, characterized by substantial tariffs on imports from key trading partners, have led to significant market volatility and raised complex legal questions regarding the extent of executive power in trade matters.

The first quarter of 2025 introduced the United States to a federal employment crisis not seen in nearly a century. A sweeping wave of Federal mass layoffs across multiple federal agencies resulted in the dismissal of over 150,000 federal employees. Triggered ostensibly by a complex cocktail of political gridlock, fiscal prioritization, and administrative realignment, the 2025 federal mass layoffs have come to symbolize a new era of ideological confrontation over the size, purpose, and structure of the federal government.

In 2025, the United States government embarked on one of the most significant and controversial bureaucratic transformations in modern history. Amid claims of restoring efficiency, eliminating redundancy, and slashing public expenditures, the Trump administration, entering its second term, initiated sweeping federal workforce layoffs. Over 275,000 federal civil service positions were reduced—a staggering 12% of the civilian federal workforce. The measures affected a broad spectrum of agencies, from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Education to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). At the heart of this shift was the formation of a new executive agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), empowered with exceptional authority to facilitate the downsizing initiative.

On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump launched a dramatic recalibration of American trade policy, issuing Executive Order 14257, which levied a 10% baseline tariff on all imports into the United States, with targeted rates as high as 54% on specific nations, most notably China. Declaring the day as "Liberation Day," the administration framed this bold action as an economic emancipation from foreign trade dependencies. The announcement sent immediate shockwaves through global markets: the S&P 500 registered its steepest one-day drop since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and bond markets reacted with heightened volatility. These events prompted fierce debate among economists, legal scholars, and political strategists.