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Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution delegates to Congress the power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises."

The economy-devastating tariffs recently announced by the Trump Administration weren't individually or directly approved by Congress but instead came from the powers delegated by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA).

This act allows the president, if a national emergency has been declared, to impose tariffs from the executive branch. Trump was the first president to invoke this act.

Cryptocurrency markets fell on this declaration of intent to crucify global trade.

What is intriguing to me, as we all prepare for economic devastation, is how long and how openly Trump has been planning to place himself at the center of global trade.

During Trump's 2000 campaign for the presidency, he "wrote" a book titled "The America We Deserve." In this book, he described what he thought of global trade and what his policies would be.

In a section where he criticizes the relative largesse of the American state, he notes:

"We're everyone's favorite trading partner, we take in refugees and immigrants at a million or so a year, we bail out insolvent governments and prop up weak ones, we mediate intractable disputes.

"We have standing armies and jetfighter squadrons and fleets the world over – we do it all. A lot of the time, we don't even bother to send a bill."

Even as far back as the year 2000, Trump was concerned with trade deficits and stated his belief that "if President Trump does the negotiating, we'll get a better deal for American workers and their families, and our economy will not be as vulnerable to global pressures as it is today. Watch our trade deficit dwindle."

He went even further than this and proposed placing himself even more at the center.

"What I would do if elected president," he wrote, "would be to appoint myself US trade representative; my lawyers have checked and the president has this authority. I would take personal charge of negotiations with the Japanese, the French, the Germans, and the Saudis. Our trading partners would have to sit across the table from Donald Trump, and I guarantee you the rip-off of the United States would end.

"The American people would benefit in two ways – I'd lower our trade deficits, and I'd save the salary of our US trade representative because I wouldn't accept it."

If we trust Howard Lutnick, the current commerce secretary, this obsession with running "the global economy" actually dates back 35 years for the president.

These tariffs, which are hurting not just the crypto industry but every industry, are his newest version of this narcissistic belief that he alone can manage the global economy.

It was plotted in the open; he widely stated he intended to cause this pain; every economist agreed his plans would lead to economic devastation, and yet a ton of crypto executives still decided to support the man who has been plotting for decades to destroy the world.

— Bennett Tomlin

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In other news:

Elizabeth Warren wants Trump and SEC probed over crypto ties

I don't know; I'm pretty sure Justin Sun buying half the public token supply and then getting his case dropped is how the SEC always works.

First Digital defends FDUSD from Justin Sun's attacks

I really wish Techteryx would admit that Sun has a stake in TrueUSD. It's so obvious that even ARIA is suspicious.

Justin Sun bailed out $500M stablecoin TUSD, report

I mean, come on, we're supposed to believe Sun is providing $500 million in liquidity but also has no stake in the project? What does Techteryx think we are?