The United States Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday (Sep 9) to decide the legality of President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, setting up a major test of one of the Republican president’s boldest assertions of executive power that has been central to his economic and trade agenda.
The justices took up the Justice Department’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a federal law meant for emergencies. The court swiftly acted after the administration last week asked it to review the case, which implicates trillions of dollars in customs duties over the next decade.
The court, which begins its next nine-month term on Oct 6, placed the case on a fast track, scheduling oral arguments for the first week of November.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ruled on Aug 29 that Trump overreached in invoking a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose the tariffs, undercutting a major priority for the president in his second term. The tariffs, however, remain in effect during the appeal to the Supreme Court.
The appeals court ruling stems from two challenges. One was brought by five small businesses that import goods, including a New York wine and spirits importer and a Pennsylvania-based sport fishing retailer. The other was filed by 12 US states – Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Vermont – most of them governed by Democrats.
The Supreme Court also agreed to hear a separate challenge to Trump’s tariffs brought by a family-owned toy company, Learning Resources.
The levies are part of a global trade war instigated by Trump since he returned to the presidency in January that has alienated trading partners, increased volatility in financial markets and fueled global economic uncertainty.
Trump has made tariffs a key foreign policy tool, using them to renegotiate trade deals, extract concessions and exert political pressure on other countries. Trump in April invoked the 1977 law in imposing tariffs on goods imported from individual countries to address trade deficits, as well as separate tariffs announced in February as economic leverage on China, Canada and Mexico to curb the trafficking of fentanyl and illicit drugs into the US.
The law gives the president power to deal with “an unusual and extraordinary threat” amid a national emergency. It historically had been used for imposing sanctions on enemies or freezing their assets. Prior to Trump, the law had never been used to impose tariffs.
“The fact of the matter is that President Trump has acted lawfully by using the tariff powers granted to him by Congress in IEEPA to deal with national emergencies and to safeguard our national security and economy. We look forward to ultimate victory on this matter with the Supreme Court,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Jeffrey Schwab, a lawyer with the Liberty Justice Center legal group representing small business challengers to Trump’s tariffs, said he is confident that the Supreme Court will recognise that the president does not have unilateral tariff power under this law.
“Congress, not the president alone, has the constitutional power to impose tariffs,” Schwab said.