What is US Supreme Court’s reaction on Trump’s tariffs?

Ever since his coming back to power for the second term as US President last year, Donald Trump has adopted a hawkish approach towards his trading partners and imposed punitive tariff measures by exercising his powers under national security and emergency economic laws. 

Challenging Trump’s decisions, a coalition of businesses and trade groups has contended in the US Supreme Court that the President has exceeded his authority to impose broad tariffs that disrupted global supply chains and raised the costs of American consumers and also impacted the relations with allies. 

According to the latest reports, the US Supreme Court has now deferred its ruling on the legality of global tariffs imposed by Trump in the last one year. Moreover, the court has also not mentioned when it will take up the matter. 

As the court is going to begin a four week recess, the next potential day for the ruling on tariffs could be February 20, which means the wait will be one more additional month. If the court delivers judgement against Trump’s decision, it will be a huge legal defeat for him since his return to the White House. 

On Nov. 5 last year, several justices appeared doubtful that Trump had the authority to impose the tariffs under a 1977 law that grants the president special powers in emergency situations. The court’s decision to fast-track the case had earlier raised expectations among critics that a swift ruling against Trump could follow. But, it didn’t not happen so far and the wait continues further. 

Legal and political experts say that a ruling against Trump’s adminstration could have wide ranging consequences and could also lead to refunds worth $ 130 billion in tariff. Moreover, a setback in Supreme Court would also mean that Trump is unlikely to threaten his trading partners further in future.