Where Donald Trump can act unilaterally on his campaign promises — and where he will need Congress

Donald Trump made a wide array of promises on the campaign trail in recent months that he will now need to implement after a decisive victory set him up for a return to the Oval Office in 2025.

Some of them will be easier for him to do by himself than others.

On two of his signature promises — a new wave of tariffs on imports from around the world and a "mass deportation" of undocumented immigrants — an American president is imbued with considerable authority to act unilaterally.

And Trump has given every indication he intends to try. In a speech early Wednesday morning, Trump said "America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate" and promised to move quickly.

Other priorities will require more partners. The still unsettled picture of who will control the House of Representatives will shape what Trump is able to implement on issues like tax cuts and a rollback of green energy credits.

The control of the House is still up for grabs as of Tuesday morning, according to AP projections, with over 50 races still to be called.

Republicans also took control of the Senate on Tuesday night, meaning that if they can eke out a win in the House, they would largely have complete control over Washington's levers of power.

TOPSHOT - Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures at supporters after speaking as he holds hands with former US First Lady Melania Trump during an election night event at the West Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, early on November 6, 2024. Republican former president Donald Trump closed in on a new term in the White House early November 6, 2024, just needing a handful of electoral votes to defeat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump gestures at supporters after speaking during an election night event in Florida early in the morning of November 6. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) · JIM WATSON via Getty Images

Where Trump can act on his own (and perhaps quickly)

Trump spent much of the campaign promising to enact his tariff ideas "quickly" and a series of moves by Congress stretching back decades could allow him to do that.

It is Congress that formally — per the US Constitution — has the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises." But lawmakers have ceded much of that power to the Oval Office in a series of bills that stretch back decades.

The so-called "Section 301" and "Section 232" tariff authority that has been exercised in recent years by both Trump and President Joe Biden are based on some of these bills. They have allowed both men to enact tariffs via a process that can be timely — requiring a review process by the Commerce Department — but with little outside input.

Trump allies have also talked in recent months about testing presidential power further on other untested options, such as a long forgotten 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers.

That could be dusted off and would perhaps allow a president to act even more quickly and impose higher duties than his other authorities.

The question many experts ask is whether courts — not Congress — will intervene. "He would almost certainly be sued by somebody," noted William Reinsch, longtime trade policymaker in an interview earlier this year. Whether a judge would agree and intervene remains to be seen.