Talk:Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917

Untitled

Shouldn't this page only be about legislation that actually has this name, or is popularly called this? There are certainly acts that have this effect, but not this name. --Daniel C. Boyer 00:44, 25 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Yes, I think this is an example of someone de-US-ifying a page when the page is and should be US specific. The "Trading with the Enemy Act" is a US piece of legislation. Daniel Quinlan 01:10, Sep 25, 2003 (UTC)

But note also that there was a British "Trading with the Enemy Act" in WWII (the Trading with the Enemy Act 1939). Tearlach 04:51, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

¶ The link for Project researching development of TWEA no longer works, apparently the project gave up its website and the URL now belongs to somebody else. Rather than delete it on my on initiative, I hope someone might be able to substitute a working link of the same or similar information. Sussmanbern (talk) 00:02, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Confusion

The writer of this entry confuses the Trading with the Enemy Act with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Iran and Iraq are subject to the IEEPA, not the TWEA.

The acts are substantively the same, as both are enabling statutes pursuant to which sanctions regulations are passed, but the TWEA applies only to countries with which we are at war, while the IEEPA applies to other countries with which we do not have diplomatic relations. President George H.W. Bush, upon the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, issued an Executive Order based not on the TWEA but, rather, the IEEPA.

The only nations that the TWEA currently applies to are Cuba and North Korea. That is because prior the enactment of the IEEPA in 1977, the TWEA covered both wars and national emergencies. Because the sanctions regulations regarding Cuba and North Korea were issued prior to 1977, illegal transactions with those countries are "grandfathered in."

The media constantly confuses these two acts. For example, recently the government announced several million dollars in fines handed out to companies that were in the violation of the Trading with the Enemy Act and other sanctions regulations. The media failed to understand that most of these penalties were handed out pursuant to the IEEPA, not the TWEA. (Ikea, for example, was fined under the IEEPA for purchasing carpets from Afghanistan while it was under Taliban control.)

• The following comment, apparently in line with the above, was errantly posted into the article by 209.212.80.175:

This section is just entirely wrong. I wish I had time to write a memo on IEEPA...but IEEPA and TWEA are actually two entirely different laws. TWEA can be found at 12 USC 95 and IEEPA at 50 USC 1701.

• I've now moved it here. BD2412 T 16:02, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Useless

This article is the worst I have ever seen. What is significant about the "Trading with the Enemy Act" is that it reveals, although only partially, that US industrialists on Wall Street directly financed the German war machine from the 20´s onwards. Hitler could never have invaded even the Faroe Islands without the US. Wake up !--El magnifico 02:28, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I don´t want to be a bitch, but if you don´t rewrite this artice - I most certainly will ! --El magnifico 01:30, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Bush

I removed:

"Among those who have been charged under this act are Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of US Presidents, who was accused by congress of having sold the Nazis more than half of the steel they used during the war; and Chase Manhattan (now JP Morgan Chase)"

Bush was not "convicted," a subsidiary of a German company he owned one share of had its assets seized - hardly convicted. And he was hardly accussed of selling the Nazi's half their steel, like he was a salesman. The Germans made most of their steel from Swedish iron ore. And we all know that this is an impotent swipe at the Bushes.

Also, this article is in sore need of being revamped.

TuckerResearch 07:33, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

the amandment act of this trading with the enemy act consinders the people enemies of the u.s!!!!!!!! this is why we need liscences to do anything —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.223.89.184 (talk) 18:39, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

What Family had their assests frozen by FDR under this act?

What Family had their assests frozen by FDR under this act? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.239.196.40 (talk) 13:44, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Some information is still missing

I can't find copies of the presidential proclamations that listed and delisted most countries but I think I have them all mentioned in the article now.

Additionally, sometimes Presidents just argued that he had the authority to use the law in court and didn't issue the proclamation referred to in the text of the law, at times dubiously claiming it was because of a previously declared emergency when it was obvious to most it was not. Courts let them get away with it so the record of when the authorities were used may be incomplete.

I'm not sure about Finland's and some other countries delisting dates from ww2. 1946 is when allied and neutral countries were authorized to be delisted when legislation was passed allowing them to reclaim all their property, but the State Department delayed delisting for negotiation purposes in some cases. Unlike the other allies and neutrals Finland was first against the USSR, then against Germany when it became obvious Germany was going to lose. Axis/axis-aligned countries had different delisting dates depending on war circumstances but I can't find any records other than the delisting of allies and neutrals, unlike most enemy-aligned countries. Zimm82 (talk) 17:05, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

The US at war with Cuba?

Hi. I am having a hard time grasping how trade with Cuba can come under TWEA. The leed states very clearly that TWEA can only be effectuated during war. Can someone sort this mess out? RhinoMind (talk) 14:53, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

The wartime limitation was a change to TWEA when IEEPA was enacted in the 1970s. Cuba sanctions imposed under TWEA predated IEEPA. Sullidav (talk) 01:49, 15 February 2020 (UTC)