Supreme Court to quickly consider if President Donald Trump has power to
impose sweeping tariffs
[September 10, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court granted an unusually quick hearing
on President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on Tuesday, putting a
policy at the center of his economic agenda squarely before the nation's
highest court.
The justices will hear the case in November, a lightning-fast timetable
by the Supreme Court's typical standards, and rule at some point after
that. The tariffs will stay in place in the meantime.
The court agreed to take up an appeal from the Trump administration
after lower courts found most of his tariffs illegal.
The small businesses and states that challenged them also agreed to the
accelerated timetable. They say Trump's import taxes on goods from
almost every country in the world have nearly driven their businesses to
bankruptcy. “Congress, not the President alone, has the power to impose
tariffs,” attorney Jeffrey Schwab with the Liberty Justice Center said.
Two lower courts have agreed that Trump didn't have the power to impose
all the tariffs under an emergency powers law, though a divided appeals
court left them in place.
The Trump administration asked the justices to intervene quickly,
arguing the law gives him the power to regulate imports and striking
down the tariffs would put the country on “the brink of economic
catastrophe.”
The case will come before a court that has been reluctant to check
Trump’s extraordinary flex of executive power. One big question is
whether the justices’ own expansive view of presidential authority
allows for Trump’s tariffs without the explicit approval of Congress,
which the Constitution endows with the power to levy tariffs. Three of
the justices on the conservative-majority court were nominated by Trump
in his first term.
While the tariffs and their erratic rollout have raised fears of higher
prices and slower economic growth, Trump has also used them to pressure
other countries into accepting new trade deals. Revenue from tariffs
totaled $159 billion by late August, more than double what it was at the
same point a year earlier.
[to top of second column]
|
The Supreme Court Building is seen in Washington on March 28, 2017.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Solicitor General D. John Sauer has argued that the lower court
rulings are already affecting those trade negotiations. If the
tariffs are struck down, the U.S. Treasury might take a hit by
having to refund some of the import taxes it’s collected, Trump
administration officials have said. A ruling against them could even
threaten the nation’s ability to reduce the flow of fentanyl and
efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, Sauer argued.
The administration did win over four appeals court judges who found
the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, lets
the president regulate importation during emergencies without
explicit limitations. In recent decades, Congress has ceded some
tariff authority to the president, and Trump has made the most of
the power vacuum.
The case involves two sets of import taxes, both of which Trump
justified by declaring a national emergency: the tariffs first
announced in April and the ones from February on imports from
Canada, China and Mexico.
It doesn’t include his levies on foreign steel, aluminum and autos,
or the tariffs Trump imposed on China in his first term that were
kept by Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump can impose tariffs under other laws, but those have more
limitations on the speed and severity with which he could act.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
