The majority of the sweeping tariffs Donald Trump imposed during his second term face one final litmus test that will determine whether he can continue to levy them – and also whether businesses are eligible for massive refunds.
That potentially dramatic turn in the tariff saga comes after a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that Trump unlawfully leaned on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose across-the-board duties on countries.
Trump had used those powers to push import tax rates as high as 50% on India and Brazil – and as high as 145% on China earlier this year.
Seeing that our Judicial branch is limping along, and at least attempting to curtail this march toward totalitarianism, gives me hope.
I’ll be pleasantly surprised if this happens.
He regularly ignores court orders with zero consequences. He has empirically proven that the courts can say whatever they want but he doesn’t have to listen.