America's Talking - Trump Asks Supreme Court for Speedy Review of Tariff Authority

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday to rescue his trade deals and economic agenda after two lower courts said the president has no authority to issue broad tariffs. Trump's team told the high court that the nation's future depends on a quick ruling. Two courts have already said the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act doesn't give the president unbounded tariff authority.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_248efb69-4022-424c-ad76-fee61c390ab0.html Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to America's Talking, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire Service. After an appeals court upheld a loader court's ruling that President Donald Trump does not have the constitutional authority to issue sweeping tariffs on foreign countries, the president appealed the latest decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Joining me to discuss this is the Center Square Tariff Guru, Brett Rowland. Brett, tell our listeners more about this ongoing legal form.

So this is set up to be a pretty big fight. We've got a group of small businesses and Democrat-led states on one side, and we've got the Trump administration on the other side. And Trump here is fighting for basically his entire economic agenda. He's used that tariff authority that he says he has under the IEPA, which is the International Emergency Economic Power. Act of 1970. So he's used that to underpin almost all of his tariff powers. So everything from the tariffs on the European Union to all the other countries. And basically his argument to the Supreme Court is saying, hey, the stakes couldn't be higher. These tariffs are actually working.

He's saying, I've used these tariffs to make peace deals around the globe. I've used these tariffs to essentially reorder global trade in favor of America. We're reducing our trade deficits. We're making trade deals. We're, you know, things are working. Don't take this authority away now. Now, there's a lot more to it. There is about two, they filed more than 200 pages last night.

But a big part of what he's saying here is that things are going great. Don't take this away from me now. Now, the small businesses, of course, don't like this. And the Democrat-led states say that it's going to mean higher costs for them as well. But we'll have to see where the Supreme Court goes here. It's going to be – Trump is asking for a really quick ruling here. He wants an expedited schedule. They're talking about having stuff ready to go in the next couple weeks.

So this would be a very – and the states – and the small businesses aren't opposed to moving quickly, they want to move quickly because some of the businesses that are represented here have already struggling to continue, have essentially stopped ordering new product because they're worried about pricing and how this is going to play out.

Brett, while many of these legal battles regarding the Trump administration are highly partisan, this one is a little bit less so because one of the legal groups that brought the lawsuit is it's a free market. Some would say, call them conservative group. It seems to me that President Trump is putting a lot of eggs in this basket, because as you

mentioned, it's not just about fair trade. He's negotiating other deals. One other thing he wants to do is bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. with these tariffs in place. Many companies have already said, hey, we're going to start producing our goods or whatever in the United States. So this really is, assuming the Supreme Court

takes the case, which I'm sure it will, this could be a very big ruling for the entirety of the Trump administration. Yeah, so this could really set the tone going forward. If the Supreme Court doesn't rule on his favor, he has a few other options, but in terms of his own presidential tariff authority,

but none of them are, as broad or as none of them give them quite the freedom that he thinks he has under the I-E-E-E-E-P-A, which is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. So he's saying, we've got an emergency. This is working. But the other side is saying, hey, listen, two federal courts have already said, no, our businesses are in trouble already.

So they're saying the stakes are high on their end, too. So they're all for a quick resolution here. But I guess we'll see this could be a real good time to measure exactly how long it takes the Supreme Court to move. But in addition to that, Trump definitely has a lot of eggs in this basket. He has used tariffs to great effect. that he is essentially told the world to turn around and pay attention and do what he wants. And he's got this tremendous power that the courts are threatened to yank out from under him. So, yeah, I mean, I think that the stakes couldn't be higher.

And the tariffs already have brought in significant amounts of revenue over several years, assuming the Supreme Court allows the tariffs to stay in place, it could pay for almost all of the deficit that was created by extending the 2017-era Trump tax cuts. Is that right? Yes. So the CBO came out or the Congressional Budget Office came out not that long ago and said, hey, this could bring in $4 trillion over the next decade, which is about what the, extending those tax cuts as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would do. So although S&P and some of the credit rating agencies say it's not that the one big beautiful bill isn't entirely going to be canceled out by tariffs, the CBO estimate says it's going to come

really close. So there really is a lot riding on this. And I think that if Trump loses here, he's going to have to turn around. but what that turnaround looks like, I have no idea at this point. Brett to close, are going to put you on the spot. Care to make a prediction on how the Supreme Court rules? This is a tough one. I can see it going either way, really.

So the Supreme Court has sided with Trump. He's got a six three conservative majority. So that stands in his favor. But you've got two lower courts. And some rules. really powerful groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and law professors, some members of Congress have said, hey, he just doesn't have this authority and that Congress has the authority to impose taxes. So it's too hard to guess for me at this point.

All right. Thank you, though, Brett, for joining us today. Listeners can keep up with this story and more at thecentersquare.com.