A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Supreme Court is expected to decide this week whether it will consider the legality of President Trump's tariffs. Two separate lower-level courts have so far ruled against one type of the president's tariff, so the White House asked the high court to weigh in. NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben has been following all of this. So, Danielle, which import taxes are involved in this case?
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Well, broadly speaking, Trump has imposed two types of tariffs this term. There are the tariffs on particular goods - like steel, aluminum, cars - and then there are tariffs on particular countries' goods. Those are the tariffs we'll be talking about here. Those are the ones that Trump imposed in that April 2nd ceremony in the Rose Garden, where he held up that big table of tariff countries and rates. Most of those tariffs took effect last month.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, what's the legal issue with those tariffs?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, Trump imposed these tariffs using emergency powers, using a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, also known as IEEPA. Now, a federal trade court and then a federal appeals court have said that, no, these sweeping tariffs are not allowed under that law. So the White House has now asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether these tariffs should be allowed to remain in place.
MARTÍNEZ: Any word on where the court is leaning on this if it even decides to take up the case about these tariffs?
KURTZLEBEN: Right. Well, legal experts, first of all, say it seems likely the court will accept the case given how immediately consequential the tariffs are. As for how the court might rule, it's hard to know. It is true that the court has had multiple recent rulings in Trump's favor. But I talked to one of the litigators challenging the tariffs, Michael McConnell, who's conservative. And he said he's feeling good about this case. He pointed to the court limiting President Biden's policies, like on student loans, for example. He thinks those same types of questions are at play here.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, so what possible ways could it go then?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, the court could find these tariffs totally legal, in which case they stay in place and Trump can keep using IEEPA to impose more tariffs. Or the court could find them totally illegal and end these tariffs. And in that case, a big question a lot of people will be watching is, what happens to the tens of billions that businesses have already paid the government? Now, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the administration would issue refunds, but we do not know how that would work.
But there could also be some middle ground. The court could, for example, say these tariffs aren't lawful, but that IEEPA could be used to impose other tariffs. But underlying all of this really is a tricky, fundamental question. The Constitution gives Congress the power to tariff. But using laws like IEEPA, Congress has over the years given some of that power to the president. So, how much of that power can the president wield? That is what we are talking about here.
MARTÍNEZ: But if these tariffs were to be found illegal, I mean, what would happen then? My guess would be that Trump's economic policy gets blown apart?
KURTZLEBEN: Not really. Now, it would be a big deal, of course, for this court to rule against him. But Trump's tariff policy wouldn't necessarily fall apart because he would have other legal avenues. Here's Doug Irwin, a professor of economics at Dartmouth.
DOUG IRWIN: He wouldn't be able to replicate the broad, across-the-board nature of the tariffs that he's imposed. But he would be able to hit a lot of different countries and hit a lot of industries with tariffs using different parts of the tariff code.
KURTZLEBEN: There are other laws he could use. Some are more limited. Some of them say, for example, Trump can impose tariffs for a certain number of days, up to a certain level. But he could find other ways to tariff. And crucially, he could still use these other types of tariffs as a threat to other countries to try to get them to do what he wants them to.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Thanks a lot.
KURTZLEBEN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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