Trump Asks SC To Quickly Take Up Tariffs Case

The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme court to rule quickly that the president has the power to impose sweeping import taxes under federal law. The move comes after an appeals court ruling that said most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs are an “illegal” use of an emergency powers law.

The US Court of Appeals had left the tariffs in place for now but the administration called on the SC to intervene quickly in a petition filed electronically late Wednesday and provided to The Associated Press. 

Solicitor General D. John Sauer requested the Justices to take up the case and hear the arguments in November. “That decision casts a pall of uncertainty upon ongoing foreign negotiations that the President has been pursuing through tariffs over the past five months, jeopardizing both already negotiated framework deals and ongoing negotiations,” he wrote. “The stakes in this case could not be higher,” he added, AP reported. 

The appeals court gave a 7-4 ruling terming the tariffs as “illegal”. The lawsuit is one of the several filed against the sweeping tariffs that have shaken global markets, alienated U.S. trading partners and allies and raised fears of higher prices and slower economic growth.

Most judges of the appeals court had maintained that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, did not let Trump usurp congressional power to set tariffs. The dissenters, though, said the law does allow the president to regulate importation during emergencies without explicit limitations.

The government has argued that if the tariffs are struck down, it might have to refund some of the import taxes that it’s collected, delivering a financial blow to the U.S. Treasury.