In 1994, with trade fights raging over the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization, the White House faced an urgent problem: It was about to lose most of its power to block exports for national security reasons. The decades-old law governing so-called export controls was about to expire, and Congress was making no move to renew it. So the Clinton administration took matters into its own hands: It declared a national emergency, extending its export-control powers without any new legislation.
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