The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has agreed to hear a case which might decide the fate of President Donald Trump’s cornerstone economic policy: tariffs.
The court granted writ on the case just weeks after a federal appeals court sided with a lower court’s findings that the President abused emergency powers to bring about the controversial levies. However, that federal appeals court ruled that it would allow the tariffs to continue for now, referring the case back to the Court of International Trade to decide damages.
In response, Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi said the administration would appeal to the SCOTUS, while Trump said he would ask the court for an “expedited ruling” on the tariff decision, insinuating that they would side with him. As widely expected, the SCOTUS did intervene; the case will now instead be in their hands.
Per release, the justices will hear arguments in the case in November, granting the President’s wishes for an accelerated review of the case. A decision would then be made by year-end.
A lot is riding on the SCOTUS’s determination. If the court ruled that Trump was within his rights to use emergency powers and implement the sweeping tariffs, it would be ‘business as usual’ for many businesses which have adjusted to the President’s unexpected policy since their implementation in April. However, their decision would represent a departure from the discernment of two lower courts and play into concerns that the highest court in the land has been captured and politicized.
On the other hand, a ruling against the tariffs would blow up Trump’s new normal, forcing a refund of billions of dollars worth of tariffs collected by the U.S. since the policy went into effect. It would also thrust a key source of revenue in the Republicans’ new tax and budget bill into jeopardy, stirring worries about the impact on government funding.
President Trump has previously warned that “America would become a third world country” if tariffs were overturned. He also earlier warned that it could “destroy the United States of America.” It might be sensationalist and charged language, but the undoing of the policy could produce near-term volatility and new uncertainty at a time where the broader U.S. economy is starting to drag.
In recent popular polling, a majority of respondents have indicated that they are against tariffs, citing the impacts to still-high inflation. A mid-August survey from the Pew Research Center found that 61% of Americans disapproved of the tariffs, while 38% approved, mostly members of the President’s political establishment.
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