By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
The United States Supreme Court today ruled that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal. The tariffs—which Trump imposed last year—have added significant costs to goods for both individual consumers and businesses, especially businesses that rely on sourcing goods from Asian countries, including Vietnam, India, Japan, and China.
Washington has one of the most trade-dependent economies in the nation. Last year, businesses scrambled to adjust to the shifting economic landscape the tariffs created, and Gov. Ferguson warned of the lasting harm the tariffs would do to the state economy.
Under these tariffs, the Trump administration last year collected about $200 billion from U.S. consumers and businesses. Today’s ruling immediately bars the federal government from collecting those tariffs, but the court did not rule whether the federal government must reimburse those who paid the tariffs.
Trump first imposed 10% tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico in early April of last year, claiming the power to do so under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The 1977 act allows the president to impose tariffs as a response to an international emergency. Trump claimed that the U.S. faced an unrestricted flow of the deadly drug fentanyl across its borders, along with continued trade deficits that damaged the U.S. economy.
A coalition of 12 states immediately filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over these tariffs.
The tariffs swiftly ballooned, as the U.S. entered into what many analysts called a trade war, with Trump opting to slap tariffs onto still more countries throughout the world, including allies like the United Kingdom and Switzerland. At one point, tariffs on China stood at 125%.
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