The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday over President Trump's sweeping tariffs, putting a tool at the center of his economic and foreign policy agendas squarely before the high court, which the AP reports has thus far been reluctant to check Trump's wide-ranging use of executive powers. What you need to know, per the AP:
- What the case involves: It includes the tariffs first announced in April on almost all US trading partners and the ones from February on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico. Trump justified these by declaring separate national emergencies under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which does not explicitly mention tariffs.
- The legal backstory: Earlier this year, two lower courts and a federal appeals court ruled that the emergency law he invoked doesn't give him unlimited power to set tariffs. The Constitution says tariff power belongs to Congress.
- The financial impact: Tariff revenue came to $195 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up 153% from $77 billion in fiscal 2024. The import taxes he justified under an economic emergency law—the ones being challenged in the Supreme Court—brought in $89 billion. Still, total tariffs accounted for less than 4% of federal revenue of $5.2 trillion in fiscal 2025.
- The foreign policy angle: For Trump, tariffs are not just a key part of his economic agenda, they're also a cornerstone of his foreign policy. He has wielded the import taxes as a threat to secure ceasefires, as political pressure during the prosecution of a Trump ally, and as punishment for a television ad. In fact, the Justice Department has pointed to their prominence in foreign policy as one reason why the Supreme Court should not strike them down, since it's an area where courts have long given deference to the executive branch.
- The challengers: They say that tariffs amount to a domestic tax because they're paid by American companies that import goods, and taxation belongs to Congress.
- If the Supreme Court rules against Trump: The president has warned the United States will be rendered "defenseless" if he loses. But he'd actually still have plenty of options to keep taxing imports aggressively. He can use other laws he deployed in his first term and can reach for more, including one aimed specifically at addressing trade imbalances and a previously unused Depression-era statute that allows for up to 50% tariffs against countries that treat American businesses unfairly. He just won't have nearly boundless authority to impose any tariff he wants anytime he wants to.
- Reading the tea leaves: NBC News reports the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has largely had sided with Trump in this term, "but many legal observers think the tariffs dispute is a close call."
- Politico elaborates: "An indisputable hallmark of the Roberts court is a deep mistrust for government meddling in the free market. That ideological predilection, which has fueled a slew of pro-business, anti-regulatory rulings, could prompt the court's conservatives to view Trump's tariffs more skeptically than they view many of his other, non-economic policies," writes Josh Gerstein.
- Timeline: The court is hearing the case on an expedited basis, meaning a ruling could comes as quickly as December, reports Newsweek.
- Trump's take: The president posted Tuesday on Truth Social, "Tomorrow's United States Supreme Court case is, literally, LIFE OR DEATH for our Country. With a Victory, we have tremendous, but fair, Financial and National Security. Without it, we are virtually defenseless against other Countries who have, for years, taken advantage of us." (Read the full post here.)
(Read more on the landmark case
here.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
