Supreme Court Hands Trump Win On Tariffs

“But Congress nowhere gave [the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)] the vast power to engage in an open-ended trade war under that modest modification provision. Yet that is precisely what happened here,” the importers said.

“That USTR’s ‘modification’ continues to impose billions of dollars in taxes on the American public each month is enough to warrant this court’s review,” the petitioners argued.

In a May filing, the administration contended that the case did not warrant Supreme Court review and stated that the law permits the USTR to adjust tariffs as long as the modifications “are not radically transformative.”

“Accordingly, modifications imposed under Section 307(a) necessarily comport with the Act’s scheme because they are limited to actions appropriate to address the same problem that the original Section 301 actions addressed, as that problem has evolved over time,” said the filing.