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For the past eight months, President Donald J. Trump has been brazenly usurping Congress’ power to impose tariffs on imported goods — and thus claiming the power to levy taxes on a nation that was founded, in part, on the principle, “No taxation without representation.”

It has been understood since even before the start of our republic: Tariffs are taxes, and it’s the job of an elected legislature to impose them.

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Don’t take it from us. Take it from founding father Alexander Hamilton, who in Federalist Paper No. 33 argued, “What is the power of laying and collecting taxes, but a LEGISLATIVE POWER, or a power of MAKING LAWS, to lay and collect taxes? What are the proper means of executing such a power, but NECESSARY and PROPER laws?” (Yes, Mr. Hamilton was wont to use shouty caps on occasion.)

In Federalist No. 35, he noted a few more things about tariffs that remain relevant today: “There are persons who imagine that they can never be carried to too great a length; since the higher they are, the more it is alleged they will tend to discourage an extravagant consumption, to produce a favorable balance of trade, and to promote domestic manufactures. But all extremes are pernicious in various........

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