SCOTUS overturns Trump tariffs
“The justices, divided 6-3 held that Trump’s aggressive approach to tariffs on products entering the United States from across the world was not permitted under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).”
*snip*
“The decision does not affect all of Trump’s tariffs, leaving in place ones he imposed on steel and aluminum using different laws, for example. But it upends his tariffs in two categories. One is country-by-country or “reciprocal” tariffs, which range from 34% for China to a 10% baseline for the rest of the world. The other is a 25% tariff Trump imposed on some goods from Canada, China and Mexico for what the administration said was their failure to curb the flow of fentanyl.
“Trump could seek to reimpose the tariffs, using other laws.”
Expect some companies to sue to get their money back. Trump will appeal to the SCOTUS. Will be interesting to read the tortured SCOTUS opinion saying nobody can seek restitution from actions that SCOTUS declared illegal. But they’ve already demonstrated a remarkable versatility of conviction.
Supreme Court strikes down most of Trump’s tariffs in a major blow to the president
It will indeed be interesting to see if companies get their money back. What will be more interesting is whether companies rescind their price increases. (What! Am I daft for even posing the question…of course not!!!)
Furthermore, it will be interesting to see if Treasury bond rates rise as a result of $hundreds of Billions of government income lost.)
I would not be surprised to see … history, if there is a history, records this as the greatest pump and dump ever. There’s gotta’ be at least one bright-boy out there with an MBA that saw this coming. We might see a new billionaire or two
@Ten,
When the SCOTUS heard the oral arguments, it was predicted by seasoned court-watchers that there would be enough right-wing votes to overturn the tariffs. Today’s announcement, while welcome, wasn’t a surprise to me.
For many of the tariffs, they were announced and then rescinded before implementation (remember TACO?). That was the real pump-and-dump, and I’m sure many Trump intimates made money on the flip-flops.
I don’t know if I’m kinda’ slow (it has been suggested) but apparently Josh Marshall @ TPM called it last fall: bright-boys buying up the potential debt for pennies on the dollar …
@Ten,
Yep. Here’s Josh from yesterday:
“How does this work? I discussed this in a post from Sept. 1 of last year. The gist is this: When he became commerce secretary, Lutnick gifted his sons his Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. (In the link above I explained how they structured this handoff — which as a bonus allowed Lutnick to pay zero capital gains on the entire transaction.) Twenty-something failson Brandon Lutnick is now chairman of the firm. Brother Kyle, apparently another business prodigy from the same family, is vice chairman. Soon after Trump’s tariffs were announced last fall, Brandon Lutnick — no doubt in a totally, totally arms-length way — started buying up the rights to tariff refunds at about 25% of their sticker value.”
The Fix Is In: Lutnick Family Could Make Killing On Tariff Demise