WASHINGTON—Today, the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s authority to use tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in its ruling on Learning Resources, Inc. v Trump.  

Stefan Padfield, a principal of the Free Enterprise Initiative at The Heritage Foundation and senior legal fellow, made the following statement: 

“President Trump imposed across-the-board tariffs to get countries that impose trade barriers against American companies and workers to come to the table and is negotiating tariff and trade deals on a country-by-country basis. The president is the ultimate dealmaker because he uses every tool available. Although the decision takes away one tool, as Justice Kavanaugh lays out in his dissent, it is ultimately a speed bump because the president can likely still end up roughly where he wants to go on tariffs using other legal authorities, but it will just take longer to get there.  

 

“While the Court has ruled the President cannot use IEEPA to implement tariffs, Congress has delegated similar authority via the Trade Act of 1974 (Sections 122, 201, and 301), the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232), the Tariff Act of 1930 (Section 338), and the Trading with the Enemy Act, which have more procedural hurdles to clear, but can be used to make our international trade relationships freer, fairer, and more secure.” 
 

EJ Antoni, PhD, acting director of Heritage’s Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and chief economist, added: 

“In light of this decision, we strongly encourage Congress to get off the sidelines and work with the White House to make America more competitive by rebalancing international commerce, achieving freer, fairer, and more secure trade. Likewise, Congress should build on the OBBB Act to make more reforms to regulation, taxation, and spending since government overreach in these areas has been the primary drag on our economy.”