Supreme Court scrutinizes Trump tariffs

Justices asked pointed questions of the Trump administration in oral arguments yesterday, indicating an inclination to rule that its implementation of tariffs is unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to levy taxes, so President Trump ordered federal agents to enforce the tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He claims that the trade deficit is an economic and national security emergency. Chief Justice John Roberts said this line of reasoning could empower the president “to impose tariffs on any product, from any country, in any amount, for any length of time.” Justice Neil Gorsuch characterized it as “a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people’s elected representatives.” A Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs and reasoning would undermine not only his strategy for alleviating the deficit and the economy but also his domestic and international prestige and aura of invincibility. It would also likely mean that America’s severe economic dependency on imports will intensify, unless and until Congress passes a tariff bill.