Supreme Court Rules on Presidential Tariff Authority
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a broad swath of tariffs implemented by the Trump Administration. Chad Smith has the details.
Smith: In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president does not have the power to levy tariffs on imported goods under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Travis Cushman, the deputy general counsel for litigation and public policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the decision immediately goes to the International Court of Appeals to figure out what happens next.
Cushman: It is unclear what happens to the tariffs that have been collected, if those will be refunded, who gets the money, how much it is, and it’s also unclear if the president will try to use other statutes to levy tariffs. The other options are much more clunky and difficult to administer.
Smith: He said the Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution clearly grants Congress the sole power to levy tariffs under IEEPA. However, the tariff conversation likely isn’t over yet.
Cushman: The Constitution grants Congress the exclusive authority to tax and tariff, and so if Congress wants to levy a tax, they can do that. The president does not have that authority. About half of the tariffs were under IEEPA, the new tariffs, and the other half were under other sections, so the other sections can still provide an avenue for those.
Smith: Cushman says it’s too soon to tell what the long-term impacts of this decision will be, but some good news might be on the way in the short term.
Cushman: Inputs that are foreign-derived should go down without those tariffs in place. The question is what happens to our export markets, whether they have been lessened from retaliatory tariffs or smaller purchases. It’s also uncertain if new tariffs will be levied. Any current restrictions that are in place on other countries on our imports will not immediately go away.
Smith: Chad Smith, Washington.
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