Justices cast wary eye on US tariffs

Legality of Trump's actions scrutinised

- ANDREW CHUNG JOHN KRUZEL JAN WOLFE

Container ships in the Port of Oakland, California. In April, President Trump expanded the tariffs on products from Canada, Mexico and China to include goods from more than 100 trading partners.REUTERS

(REUTERS)

US Supreme Court justices raised doubts on Wednesday over the legality of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs in a case with implications for the global economy that marks a major test of Trump’s powers.

Conservative and liberal justices alike sharply questioned the lawyer representing Trump's administration about whether a 1977 law meant for use during national emergencies gave Trump the power he claimed to impose tariffs or whether the Republican president had intruded on the powers of Congress.

But some of the conservative justices also stressed the inherent authority of presidents in dealing with foreign countries, suggesting the court could be sharply divided in the outcome of the case. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. The arguments, lasting more than 2-1/2 hours, came in appeals by the administration after lower courts ruled that Trump's unprecedented use of the law at issue to impose the tariffs exceeded his authority. Businesses affected by the tariffs and 12 US states, most of them Democratic-led, challenged the tariffs.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts told US Solicitor General D. John Sauer, arguing for the administration, that the tariffs are “the imposition of taxes on Americans, and that has always been the core power of Congress.”

The tariffs — taxes on imported goods — could add up to trillions of dollars in revenues for the United States over the next decade. The US Constitution gives Congress the authority to issue taxes and tariffs.

Mr Roberts suggested that the court could apply its “major questions” doctrine, which requires executive branch actions of vast economic and political significance to be clearly authorised by Congress.