Can Trump ‘Order’ U.S. Companies to Leave China?

In a tweet, President Donald Trump said he “hereby ordered” U.S. companies to “immediately start looking for an alternative to China,” including moving their operations back to the United States. His top economic adviser later said “we do have such authority, but it is not going to be exercised presently.”

Under what authority can a president order U.S. businesses to leave China? The president cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which “grants sweeping powers to the President to control economic transactions” during a national emergency, according to a March 20 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

But Trump’s tweet suggests invoking the