A legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is winding its way up to the US Supreme Court, which is expected to deliver the final verdict on the legality of the tariffs he has imposed on nearly every country in the world.
In an interview with Cape Talk, FairPlay founder Francois Baird said South Africans should be paying more attention to the case, because South Africa “might get lucky”. Baird noted that, if the Trump administration lost the case, the US would have to repay all the money that had been levied under the new tariffs.
The challenge, brought by a number of US states and businesses, contests the basis of the Trump administration’s tariff regime – that the world’s trade imbalances with America constitute an emergency for the US, and that President Trump is therefore entitled to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to counter them.
In May, the US Court of International Trade blocked the sweeping duties that the president assessed on most countries, but the tariffs have been allowed to stand pending appeal. The trade court ruled that the IEEPA did not confer the “unbounded authority” President Trump had assumed, and that trade imbalances should fall under non-emergency legislation.
The appeal against this ruling was heard last week by 11 judges in the US Court of Appeals.
The challengers are arguing that no president before Mr. Trump had invoked the IEEPA to impose tariffs, and that the US Constitution vests the power to assess levies in the US Congress. The IEEPA does not include any references to tariffs or duties, and it has typically been used by presidents to impose economic sanctions on foreign nations.
When the appeal court judges announce their decision, possibly in the next few weeks, the losing side is expected to take it to the US Supreme Court, America’s highest legal authority.
