Trump has options if the Supreme Court blocks him from imposing ’emergency’ tariffs

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WASHINGTON — Countries around the world — Canada included _ are waiting anxiously as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether President Donald Trump has the authority to continue using his favoured tariff tool.

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No matter which way the court jumps, however, the Trump administration is expected to maintain some level of tariffs on the United States’ trade partners.

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“The decision in the Supreme Court would be devastating to our country if we got a negative, devastating if we got a negative decision,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday.

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The conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday related to two separate legal challenges of Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for tariffs.

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Trump used the national security statute, better known as IEEPA, to impose his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs and fentanyl-related duties on Canada, Mexico and China.

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Trump’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, faced pointed questions when he appeared before the court Wednesday. Several justices voiced skepticism about the president’s use of IEEPA to pursue his sweeping tariff agenda.

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The justices closely examined the language in the act _ particularly the wording about the president’s power to “regulate” imports — to determine whether that allows for Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs.

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Liberal and conservative justices pushed Trump’s lawyer to explain why the president would use the law for tariffs when it doesn’t mention the word “tariff” or any of its synonyms.

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They also pointed out to Sauer that IEEPA was used repeatedly by prior presidents for things like sanctions, but Trump is the only one ever to use it for tariffs.

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Sauer argued that Trump is using IEEPA to regulate foreign commerce rather than raise money — despite Trump’s repeated public claims that the duties are making America rich.

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The U.S. Constitution reserves power over taxation and tariffs for Congress. The justices wrestled with the broader implications of handing wide-ranging tariff powers to the president.

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Trump appointee Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested that once that power was given to a president, it would be next to impossible for Congress to get it back.

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“It’s a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people’s elected representatives,” Gorsuch said.

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Despite the pushback in Wednesday’s hearing, conservative majority justices have so far been hesitant to rein in the unprecedented expansion of executive power during the Trump administration.

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America’s top court could have until June to issue a ruling but it’s expected to come sooner.

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If the court rules against the Trump administration, it likely would nullify the 35 per cent economywide tariffs on Canada. Those duties do not apply to goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.