Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Case Challenging Some Trump Administration Tariffs

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in a case challenging some of the Trump administration’s tariffs. As Connecting the Dots reported last week, in August the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down penalties President Donald Trump had imposed citing his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The justices on the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in November and to rule on the matter as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, the tariffs will remain in place.

Enacted in 1977, IEEPA authorizes the president to impose necessary economic sanctions during an emergency to combat an “unusual and extraordinary threat.” Other U.S. presidents have used the IEEPA to impose sanctions targeting certain countries, but President Trump was the first to use it to impose tariffs.

As a reminder, the tariffs President Trump has imposed under the IEEPA are:

• The baseline 10 percent tariffs imposed on almost all U.S. trading partners;
• Reciprocal tariffs imposed on several dozen countries; and
• Tariffs imposed on Canada, China, and Mexico in an attempt to address the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.

In other words, the case the Supreme Court will hear and rule on later this year does not apply to the Section 232 tariffs the Trump administration has imposed on industrial metals products and other goods. It also does not apply to tariffs imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Stay tuned to Connecting the Dots for more information as this case proceeds.