The Supreme Court did Trump a favor by killing his emergency tariffs

The high court basically imposed a tax cut by killing the majority of Trump's tariffs. Why would anybody complain?

President Trump needed a way out of the mess his tariffs have caused. The Supreme Court just gave him one.

The court on February 20 invalidated the emergency tariffs that account for the majority of import taxes Trump has imposed during his second term. These are the tariffs Trump has imposed country-by-country, and product-by-product, on his own authority, without Congressional action or any administrative justification. Trump imposed these tariffs just because he felt like it.

Trump repeatedly cited a 1977 law that he claimed gave him the power to impose tariffs unilaterally. But that law doesn’t even mention tariffs and the court rebuked Trump in a 6-3 ruling, affirming the decisions of two lower courts that also found the tariffs illegal.

The Tax Foundation estimates that the emergency tariffs account for nearly three-quarters of the new import taxes Trump has levied during his second term. Those taxes—well over $100 billion worth—will now have to be returned to the American importers that paid them. The average tax on imports will drop from 16.9% to 9.1%, according to the Yale Budget Lab.

The Supreme Court has basically enacted a tax cut, and it will have a modest stimulative effect that will leave the economy a little better off. A variety of research has found that the Trump tariffs depress hiring, raise costs for business and consumers, and cut into GDP growth. The Peterson Institute for International Economics, as one example, estimates that the Trump tariffs cost the typical household $1,200 per year in higher costs and lost economic opportunity.

Consumers are highly aware of the Trump tariffs and they now blame Trump for elevated prices, according to surveys by the University of Michigan and others. Trump’s approval on handling the economy has plummeted more than on any other issue. This is obviously a problem for Trump in an election year dominated by affordability concerns.

The depressing effect of the emergency tariffs is now gone, which could produce a marginal improvement in hiring and bring inflation down a little. It would go further if Trump signaled to businesses that he’s done with tariffs, providing more clarity about what they can expect during the rest of his term.

Trump, instead, seems intent on continuing to fight for his beloved tariffs. After the Supreme Court ruling, he said he planned to impose a 10% global tariff on all imports using a different legal authority, but those can only remain in place for 150 days unless Congress extends them. There are still other types of tariffs Trump could levy, but they take longer and require more administrative work, which is why Trump preferred emergency tariffs he thought he could impose with executive orders.

Trump could give businesses and consumers a break, if he simply laid off his tariffs for a while. He could blame the Supreme Court for whatever damage he thinks this does to his agenda. Few voters would complain. He doesn’t seem to understand that what looks like an L to him is a W to most of the rest of us.