Liberation Day for Real? Not Really

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

“[The International Emergency Economic Powers Act] does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”

That’s the single really important sentence from the US Supreme Court’s February 20 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump.

Trump’s ongoing tariff tantrums, starting with his “Liberation Day” schedule of “reciprocal” tariffs, were illegal under the law in question, and under the US Constitution, which gives Congress, and only Congress, the power to levy taxes.