Trump’s plan to defy the Supreme Court has survived over 3,600 legal challenges

President Donald Trump’s attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning his tariffs through a different legal method may actually work, according to one expert.

Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act may actually empower Trump to levy the tariffs that he was unable to do through the 1977 Emergency Economic Powers Act, wrote Jack Angelo of Fortune Magazine. Angelo added that even President Joe Biden successfully used this statute to implement aspects of his agenda.

“The law arms the president with the power to impose country-specific tariffs on countries; the U.S. deems to have engaged in unfair labor practices,” Angelo explained. “There have been more than 130 cases associated with the law, establishing a formidable precedent for its use. After Trump implemented tariffs under the law against China during his first term, Biden in 2024—during the four-year periodic review practice as required under the law—extended the tariffs on China, and even increased them on products like electric vehicles and medical materials.”

Angelo acknowledged that Trump’s attempt to use Section 301 is not assured. “The caveat to Section 301 is its mandatory regulatory period, which is more rigorous than the nearly immediate authority found in IEEPA,” Angelo wrote. “Because Section 301 is an agency action, the acting USTR must follow guidelines under the Administrative Procedures Act, a law that governs the internal procedures of federal agencies, including providing a public comment period that allows importers and other stakeholders to influence and potentially modify the list of targeted products and tariff rates.”

Despite obstacles like this, “the law may very well hold up in a potential legal battle: it certainly has stronger legal legs than the tariffs implemented under IEEPA, a law that had never before been used for tariffs. Tariffs imposed under Section 301 have survived many legal challenges. In 2023, approximately 3,600 importers contested the 25% tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese-origin goods at the Court of International Trade.”

Quoting an international trade expert and Duke Law School professor, Timothy Meyer, Angelo observed that “for the plaintiffs, challenging whatever the administration does here is going to be much more difficult than the IEEPA case.”

Although Trump is determined to levy his tariffs, many of his fellow conservatives acknowledge they have had a destructive impact. Earlier in March, The Wall Street Journal reported that the economy is “lousy” under Trump, explaining that “the U.S. shed 92,000 jobs and revised down gains for January and December by a combined 69,000. The question is what to make of the declines.”

The paper then suggested that, “if Mr. Trump wants a tax-cut boost for the economy while the war continues, he could call off his new 15% universal tariff. Consider it our contribution to easing everyone’s economic anxiety.”

Similar to the right-leaning The Wall Street Journal, a left-leaning think tank called the Center for American Progress analyzed Trump’s economy and concluded his tariffs have cost Americans’ manufacturing jobs.

“Far from the manufacturing sector ‘roaring back’ as Trump promised, the United States has lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs over the past year,” wrote Allison McManus and Dawn Le from the Center for American Progress. “These actions have pushed the country’s closest trading partners to seek deals elsewhere, including with China: Canada, India, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union have all recently sought new agreements without the United States.”

Conservative commentator Mona Charen of The Bulwark openly fretted in February that Trump’s tariffs would hurt Republicans during the midterm elections.

“Voters are rarely able to connect policy to outcomes, but they have done so in the case of tariffs,” Charen explained. “Back in 2024, Americans were about equally divided on the question of trade, with some favoring higher tariffs and roughly similar numbers opting for lower tariffs. Experience has changed their views.”

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