Tariff authority decision still awaited from Supreme Court

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

Tariff authority by second-term Republican President Donald Trump was not decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, meaning the federal government can continue to collect the revenue for now.

Businesses around the world had braced for a possible decision, but the high court released an unrelated opinion. The opinion could come nearly any time before the end of June.

Trump has made tariffs a central part of both his domestic and foreign agendas during his second term. Last April, Trump imposed import taxes of at least 10% on every U.S. trading partner. Since then, the president has suspended, changed, increased, decreased and reimposed tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

A group of states and small businesses challenged Trump’s tariffs under the 1977 law, winning in two lower courts before the administration appealed to the Supreme Court.

The high court agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis, given the economic stakes at issue. The Trump administration could be forced to refund more than $133.5 billion in tariffs to importers if the Supreme Court sides with the states and small businesses in the case.

Trump has called the case one of the most important of all time and said that an unfavorable ruling could result in economic ruin for America.

Businesses have reported that tariffs have pushed up prices for consumers.