Trump Administration Urges Supreme Court to Quickly Overturn Ruling Against Tariffs

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to quickly take up the president’s emergency tariffs case to avoid “catastrophic” economic consequences for the United States, according to a filing.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued in the Wednesday petition that roughly $750 billion to $1 trillion in tariff revenue is at stake if the justices accept the case through the normal session timeline, which ends in June 2026. The U.S. could face having to refund the import taxes paid by U.S. companies, Bessent said.

President Donald Trump and administration officials have asked the Supreme Court to overturn Friday’s federal appellate ruling that affirmed the president does not have authority to impose tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act.

Trump is the first president to trigger tariffs under the IEEPA. The ruling upheld an earlier decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade. The decision is stayed while Trump officials appeal.

Tariffs paid by domestic purchasers, businesses

Trump began imposing wide-reaching tariffs in February and escalated them in the following months on goods from around the globe after declaring national emergencies — first over illegal fentanyl smuggling, and then declaring trade deficits an emergency. A trade deficit means the U.S. imports more goods from a country than that nation’s businesses purchase from U.S. suppliers.

Domestic businesses and purchasers now pay the U.S. government anywhere from 10% to 50% in tariffs on most imported products. The government had collected nearly $82 billion by June 30, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data.

Trump’s emergency tariffs were challenged in court by several private businesses and a dozen states that sued the administration for using emergency powers to trigger the steep import taxes — the first time a U.S. president had ever done so.

Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon were among states, led by Democratic attorneys general, that brought the suit.

Businesses that sued the Trump administration include the lead plaintiff, V.O.S. Selections, a New York-based company that imports wine and spirits from 16 countries, according to its website.

Other plaintiffs include a Utah-based plastics producer, a Virginia-based children’s electricity learning kit maker, a Pennsylvania-based fishing gear company, and a Vermont-based women’s cycling apparel company.

Trade frameworks

Bessent argued the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is jeopardizing trade frameworks the administration has arranged with Japan, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and the European Union.

The administration has announced several unofficial deals over recent months and has touted securing hundreds of billions in investment from other nations in exchange for lower tariffs.

“World leaders are questioning the President’s authority to impose tariffs, walking away from or delaying negotiations, and/or imposing a different calculus on their negotiating positions. The court’s ruling has taken away substantial negotiating leverage for the president to achieve the best trade deals for the American people,” Bessent wrote in a declaration attached to the administration’s motion to expedite the case, should the justices agree to take it.

In asking the Supreme Court to take the case, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued the tariffs are the administration’s “most significant economic and foreign-policy initiative … which President Trump has determined are necessary to rectify America’s country-killing trade deficits and to stem the flood of fentanyl across our borders.”

Sauer is Trump’s former personal defense attorney who argued on Trump’s behalf before the high court last year.

by Jacob Fischler, Virginia Mercury

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