The tariffs SCOTUS left in place

Economic impacts continue to ripple out from the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to strike down President Trump’s sweeping country-by-country “retaliatory” tariffs, which the Court ruled he doesn’t have the authority to impose under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.

Even though the Administration’s biggest bucket of import taxes has been thrown out, the decision does not affect many of the other tariffs that still have to be paid by U.S. businesses and consumers. Plus, following the Court’s decision, the president announced he was imposing a new 15% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which will last for 150 days unless Congress acts to extend it. 

“There are other laws under which President Trump has tariffs. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows tariffs in response to unfair trade practices, still in place against China,” said Michael Strain at the American Enterprise Institute.  

And, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows for “tariffs on goods with a national security justification — really high — on aluminum, car parts, steel, copper, lumber,” Strain said.

And, “there are still a number of active investigations on aircraft, industry machinery, medical equipment, wind turbines, and drones,” said Robert McClelland at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

That could lead to additional tariffs.

“Some of the tariffs that have been in the news a lot — that President Trump has put in place on a whim, for lack of a better phrasing — have been removed,” said Martha Gimbel at the Yale Budget Lab.

Which reduced the average effective tariff rate on foreign imports from around 16% before the Supreme Court’s decision, down to 9%. 

But, according to the Yale Budget Lab, President Trump’s new Section 122 tariffs ratchet that back up — at least for the next 150 days — to 13.7%.