Things Aren't Looking Great For Trump In Supreme Court Tariff Arguments

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Odds of the Supreme Court siding with Trump over tariffs tumbled on Wednesday, after conservative justices Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Coney Barrett asked tough questions during oral arguments in two cases.

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After the first hour of argument, the Trump administration's case justifying tariffs looked to be in serious trouble - specifically his claim that a 1977 economic emergency law grants the president unilateral power to impose tariffs at will.

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That said, the Trump admin has a plan if things don't go their way with the Supremes.

Trump's team for months has weighed using other laws as contingency plans to replace the Ieepa tariffs if they lose in court. That includes potentially deploying a never-before used provision in the Trade Act of 1974-Section 122- which allows for tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days to address trade imbalances with other countries. That would buy time for Trump to devise individualized tariffs for each major trading partner under a different provision of the same law, Section 301, which is used to counter unfair foreign trade practices.

That plan could be more legally defensible. The U.S. Court of International Trade, which ruled against Trump's tariffs, pointed to Section 122 as a more reasonable legal defense for global tariffs. Section 301, meanwhile, has long been used to address unfair foreign trade practices, and was deployed to underpin Trump's first-term tariffs on China. Additionally, the administration could also seek to use Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to impose tariffs up to 50% on nations that discriminate against U.S. commerce.

The clawbacks here are going to be a shitshow...

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