(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court to uphold his global tariffs, seeking review in a case that could affect trillions of dollars in trade and give him broad new leverage over the world economy. The appeal calls for putting the case on a highly expedited schedule with arguments in early November, according to filings reviewed by Bloomberg. It follows a federal appeals court decision that said Trump can’t impose wide-scale import taxes by invoking a 1977 law designed to address national emergencies.
The filings weren’t yet publicly available on the court’s online docket on Wednesday evening. The financial stakes alone make the case one of the biggest ever to land at the Supreme Court. A defeat for Trump would cut the current average US effective tariff rate of 16.3% by at least half and could force the US to refund tens of billions of dollars, according to Bloomberg Economics analyst Chris Kennedy. It could also upend the preliminary trade deals Trump has struck with some countries.
The levies remain in effect because the appeals court put its ruling on hold to give Trump time to seek Supreme Court review. The decision nonetheless “has jeopardized ongoing foreign negotiations and threatens framework deals,” US Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court. “Left undisturbed, the decision below would, in the president’s view, unilaterally disarm the United States and allow other nations to hold America’s economy hostage to their retaliatory trade policies.” (Ed note: Like him or not, President Trump is correct. If he loses at the Supreme Court, the US is in for very big trouble.) (Read More)