Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917

The Trading with the enemy Act of 1917 (also known as the Trading with the Enemy Act) (40 Stat. 411, enacted 6 October 1917, codified at 12 U.S.C. §§ 95a–95b and 50 U.S.C. App. §§ 1—44), sometimes abbreviated as TWEA, is a United States federal law to restrict trade with countries hostile to the United States. The law gives the President the power to oversee or restrict any and all trade between the U.S. and its enemies in times of war. In 1933 the U.S. Congress amended the Act by the passing the Emergency Banking Relief Act which extended the scope of the Trading with the enemy Act regarding the hoarding of gold to include any declared national emergency and not just those declared solely during times of war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt then used these new authorities to essentially outlaw gold ownership through the issuance of Executive Order 6102. These restrictions continued until January 1, 1975. The Act has been amended several other times.