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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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President Donald Trump warned that the Supreme Court ruling against him in a key case on his power to apply tariffs would be the "biggest threat in history to United States National Security."
"We would be financially defenseless," Trump said in an early hours post on Truth Social, pointing to a report that the European Union is planning to apply new tariffs on China. "We would not be allowed to do what others already do!"
Trump said tariffs have "greatly enhanced" national security and that they had made the U.S. the "financially strongest" country in the world, adding: "Only dark and sinister forces would want to see that end!!!"
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Supreme Court Weighs Future of Signature Trump Policy
In November, Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments in the case that challenged Trump's executive authority to impose tariffs—his signature economic policy—over the head of Congress.
The court expedited the case after a request from the Trump administration. Justices are yet to make a ruling, one that could upend a foundation stone of Trump's policy agenda.
Lower courts have repeatedly ruled against the administration's authority in imposing broad and sweeping tariffs on an emergency basis.
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Trump has liberally used tariffs since retaking office in January. He sees them as a vital tool of American economic power, one that can protect and rebuild American manufacturing and production sectors by deterring unfair global competition.
The Republican president has also used tariffs to punish U.S. rivals and foes, such as China for its role in the fentanyl trade and Russian trading partners for their role in aiding the Kremlin's war on Ukraine.
But critics of the tariffs—a tax paid by the importer—say they are pushing up inflation and can deprive American firms of raw materials and other products they need.
Moreover, they say Trump has also used tariffs aggressively against allies, weakening vital strategic partners that the U.S. should be helping to strengthen.
And they have prompted trading partners to hit back with their own tariffs on American imports, hurting U.S. exporters.
What Supreme Court Justices Are Thinking on Tariffs
A potential majority in a ruling against the tariffs would almost certainly bring together the court’s three liberal justices and at least two conservatives.
Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, both Trump appointees, and Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to be the most likely to rule against the president.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to impose tariffs, but Trump has claimed extraordinary power to act without congressional approval by declaring national emergencies under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
At the hearing for oral arguments, Gorsuch signaled he was troubled by the idea that Congress could give away its power over taxes to the president.
"The power to reach into the pockets of the American people is just different and it’s been different since the founding," Gorsuch said, when disputes over taxes helped spark the American Revolution.
Both Barrett and Roberts asked questions indicating at least some unease about how the case should come out, and Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also could support the administration.
Kavanaugh asked about the 10 percent worldwide tariffs imposed by President Richard Nixon under a predecessor to IEEPA that used very similar language.
Understanding Nixon’s tariffs, which were upheld by an appellate court but never reached the Supreme Court, "is real important to deciding this case correctly," he said.
Barrett and Kavanaugh seized on arguments made by the challengers that the president could order a complete trade embargo but not impose tariffs of even 1 percent under the emergency law.
"Doesn’t it seem like it would make sense, then, that Congress would want the president to use something that was…weaker medicine than completely shutting down trade as leverage to try to get a foreign nation to do something?" Barrett asked.
Tariff Revenues Defy Trump Claims
The president has said that the U.S. is taking in "trillions" of dollars from import tariffs and other investments.
But the actual numbers are far less than that. Treasury Department data shows that revenue from tariffs in the last fiscal year was nearly $195 billion.
In the current fiscal year, tariffs have earned around $31 billion so far.
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
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