US Supreme Court Hears Trump Tariff Case

TaiwanPlus News

The US Supreme Court is hearing a case over whether the Trump administration's use of emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs overstepped presidential authority.

Transcript

00:00A challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump's use of emergency powers to impose tariffs

00:05has made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

00:08It's the culmination of three lawsuits filed by tariff-hit businesses and 12 states.

00:13The court's decision could undo a key Trump policy

00:16and force the U.S. government to refund some of the billions in revenue it's already raked in.

00:22But a high-ranking Justice Department official says the law Trump invoked,

00:25the IEEPA, implies the power to impose tariffs,

00:30and that Trump believes undoing the tariffs could cause the U.S. deep harm.

00:34Unwinding those agreements, he warns, would expose us to ruthless trade retaliation

00:38by far more aggressive countries and drive America from strength to failure

00:42with ruinous economic and national security consequences.

00:46But no other president has used this law to impose tariffs before.

00:50And with the U.S. Constitution giving Congress, not the president, authority over tariffs and taxes,

00:56justices ranging from the liberal minority to the conservative majority are skeptical.

01:02Some say the IEEPA was never intended to give the president such powers.

01:06It's pretty clear that Congress was trying to constrain the emergency powers of the president in IEEPA.

01:13So it seems a little inconsistent to say that we have to interpret a statute

01:17that was designed to constrain presidential authority,

01:20consistent with an understanding that Congress wanted the president to have essentially unlimited authority.

01:25Even some Trump nominees have reservations about whether the separation of powers might be eroded beyond repair.

01:32So Congress, as a practical matter, can't get this power back once it's handed it over to the president.

01:38It's a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power

01:43in the executive branch and away from the people's elected representatives.

01:48Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative with a wild-card reputation, made similar points.

01:53Yes, of course, tariffs and dealings with foreign powers.

01:57But the vehicle is imposition of taxes on Americans.

02:02And that has always been the core power of Congress.

02:05So to have the president's foreign affairs power trump that basic power for Congress

02:13seems to me to kind of at least neutralize between the two powers,

02:20the executive power and the legislative power.

02:23This is just the start of deliberations, and the court could, in the end, rule any way.

02:28And despite the skepticism from justices, Trump's officials are upbeat.

02:33Sometimes the best tariffs are the ones that never get enforced.

02:37That, you know, the president threatened 100 percent tariffs

02:41after the Chinese, on October 8th, threatened to put export controls on rare earth magnets

02:48from Chinese products that had 0.01 percent.

02:51Every camera, every iPhone here would have been subject to a Chinese control.

02:56Because he had the ability to threaten the 100 percent tariff,

03:00he was able to successfully execute on foreign policy.

03:04Even if the court does rule against Trump, it won't spell the end of U.S. tariffs.

03:09There are other Trump administration tariffs that this case won't consider.

03:13And there are other laws Trump could use to keep tariffs up,

03:16even if the speed and intensity are restricted.

03:19Still, after backing Trump policies in a string of decisions this year,

03:23the court seems ready to at least consider putting a check on the president.

03:28Andy Xue and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.

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