Congressional Democrats rejoiced on Friday and Republicans remained divided in the wake of a momentous Supreme Court decision striking down a large portion of President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
“Trump’s chaotic and illegal tariff tax made life more expensive and our economy more unstable. Families paid more. Small businesses and farmers got squeezed. Markets swung wildly,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement following the decision. “We’ve said from day one: a president cannot ignore Congress and unilaterally slap tariffs on Americans. That overreach failed.”
The ruling is a major hit to Trump, who used a novel reading of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to slap a barrage of tariffs on American trading partners. Tariffs and the economy more broadly will be a key messaging issue for Democrats on the campaign trail for this year’s midterm elections. Primaries start next month leading up to the November general election.
The Supreme Court decision sets up additional potential showdowns in Congress over how to handle Trump’s trade war after the U.S. House voted last week to overturn tariffs on Canada.
For Republicans, Trump’s tariffs, which have proven largely unpopular in a pivotal election year, are a more complicated issue.
