The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to reject a petition from two toymakers asking the justices to determine whether the president could rely on a 1970s law to issue sweeping tariffs on imported goods.
The petition is the first time the high court is being asked to intervene in the Trump administration’s highly controversial tariffs. A decision from the court could have broad implications for a range of industries, including the energy sector, which have seen economic uncertainty as a result of the president’s on-again-off-again tariffs and resulting global trade war.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the threshold question raised by the petition was whether a district court has jurisdiction over cases involving tariffs imposed by the president, or whether all such challenges belong before the U.S. Court of International Trade.
“Because the district court lacked jurisdiction, this case is unlikely to resolve ultimate questions about the lawfulness of the tariffs,” he wrote in a brief to the high court Thursday.
